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OF 



WILLIAM COWPER, ESQ.; 



A NEW MEMOIR. 



COMPILED FROM JOHNSON, SOUTHEY AND 
OTHEE SOURCES. 



URIAH HUNT & SON, 

44 J\rorth Fourth Street. 

1846. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Memoir of Covvper 5 

The Task 

Book I.— The Sofa .;.... 33 
Book II.— The Time Piece . . . • 61 

Book III.— The Garden 90 

Book IV.— The Winter Evening . . .119 

Book V.— The Winter Morning Walk . 

Book VI.— The Winter Walk at Noon . 177 

John Gilpin 213 

On a Spaniel called Beau killing a 

Young Bird 224 

Beau's Reply 225 

From a Letter to the Rev. M. Newton . 227 

To Mary 229 

The Cast-away ...:... 232 
The Yearly Distress, or Tithing Time in . 

Essex 235 

Verses, Supposed to be written by Alexander 

Selkirk 239 

Report of an adjudged Case not to be found 

in any of the Books .... 242 
Catherina, 244 



IV CONTENTS. 

Page 

On the Loss of the Royal George . . . 247 

The Needless Alarm 2J9 

A Poetical Epistle to Lady Austen . . . 255 

Pairing Time Anticipated .... 259 

The Rose 259 

The Negro's Complaint 263 

On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture . 266 

Gratitude, addressed to Lady Hesketh . . 271 
The Dog and the Water Lily . . . .274 

Song 276 

Epitaph on a Hare 278 

Epitaphium Alternum 280 

On the Treatment of Hares .... 281 



MEMOIR 



WILLIAM cow PER 



William Cowper was born on the 15th of November, 
(old style,) 1731, in the Rectory of Great Berkhamstead, 
Hertfordshire. His father, the Rector of the parish, was 
John Cowper, D. D., son of Spencer Cowper, Chief Jus- 
tice of the Common Pleas, and next brother to the first earl 
Cowper, Lord Chancellor. His mother, the daughter of 
Roger Donne, Esq., of Norfolk, was of noble, and re- 
motely of royal descent. It is not, however, for her gene- 
alogy, but for being the mother of a great poet, that this 
lady will be remembered. She died at the age of thirty- 
four, leaving of several children, only two sons. " I can 
truly say," said Cowper, nearly fifty years after her death, 
" that not a week passes, (perhaps I might with equal ve- 
racity say a day,) in which I do not think of her ; such 
was the impression her tenderness made upon me, though 
the opportunity she had for showing it was so short." At 
the time of her death, Cowper was but six years old ; but 
young as he was, he felt his loss most poignantly, and has 
recorded his feelings on the occasion of her loss, in the 
most beautiful of his minor poems. 

Soon after his mother's death, Cowper was sent to a 
boarding-school, where he suffered much from the cruelty 
of one of the elder boys, " Such was his savage treatment 



b MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

of me," says he, " that I well remember being afraid to lid 
my eyes higher than his knees, and 1 knew him better by 
his shoe-buckles than by any other part of his dress." His 
infancy is said to have been "delicate in no common degree," 
and his constitution appears early to have discovered a mor- 
bid tendency to despondency. When Cowper was ten years 
old, he was sent to Westminster School, where he re- 
mained eight years. At Westminster he obtained an ex- 
cellent classical education, and was much beloved by his 
companions, among whom were Lloyd, Colman, Churchill, 
and Warren Hastings; but he complains much of his 
want of religious instruction at this school, " At the age 
of eighteen," he says, " being tolerably well furnished 
with grammatical knowledge, but as ignorant of all kinds 
of religion as the satchel at my back, I was taken from 
Westminster." 

He was now placed with an attorney, and had for his 
fellow clerk Thurlow, the after Lord Chancellor. He, 
however, made but little progress in the study of the law. 
" I did actually live," he writes his cousin Lady Hesketh, 
many years afterwards, " three years with a Solicitor ; 
that is to say, I slept three years in his house; but I lived, 
that is to say, I spent my days, in Southampton Row, as 
you well remember. There was I, and the future Lord 
Chancellor, constantly employed from morning to night, in 
giggling and making giggle, instead of studying the law." 

In 1752, at the age of twenty-one, Cowper took cham- 
bers in the Temple ; and in a Memoir which he wrote 
some years afterwards, he thus describes the commence- 
ment of that malady which embittered so much of his 
future life. " JVot long after my settlement in the Temple, 
I was struck with such a dejection of spirits, as none but 
they who have felt the same, can have any conception of. 
Day and night I was upon the rack, lying down in horror 
and rising up in despair In this state of mind I 



MEMOIR. OF COWPER. 7 

continued near a twelve-month ; when having experienced 
the ineflicacy of all human means, I, at length, betook my- 
self to God in prayer." Shortly after this, as he was 
walking in the country, " I felt," he continues, " the 
weight of all my misery taken off, and my heart became 

light and joyful in a moment But Satan, and my 

own wicked heart, soon persuaded me that I was indebted 
for my deliverance, to nothing but a change of scene, and 
on this hellish principle I burnt my prayers, and away 
went all my thoughts of devotion." 

For ten years after being called to the bar, Cowper con- 
tinued to reside in the Temple, amusing himself with 
literature and society, and making little or no effort to 
pursue his profession. He belonged to the " Nonsense 
Club," consisting of seven Westminster men, among whom 
were Lloyd, Colman, and Bonnell Thornton ; assisted the 
two latter in the " Connoisseur," and " though he wrote 
and published," says Hayley, " both verse and prose, it 
was as the concealed assistant of less diffident authors." 

Meantime, he had fixed his affections on Theodora Jane, 
the daughter of his uncle, Ashley Cowper ; one of those 
ladies with whom he used to "giggle and make giggle," 
in Southampton Row. She is described as a lady of great' 
personal and mental attractions; and their affection was 
mutual. But her father objected to their union, both on 
the score of means and consanguinity. When it was found 
that his decision was final, the lovers never met again. It 
does not appear that this disappointment had any influence 
in inducing the return of his malady. In respect to love, 
as well as friendship and fame, few poets, and perhaps few 
men, have possessed feelings more sane and healthy, than 
Cowper. In after life, he said to Lady Hesketh, " I still 
look back to the memory of your sister and regret her ; 
but how strange it is ; if we were to meet now, we should 
not know each other." It was different with Theodora. 



8 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

She lived unmarried, to extreme old age, and carefully 
preserved the poems which he had given her during their 
intercourse, to the end of her life. 

At the age of thirty-one, the little patrimony, which had 
been left Cowper by his father, was well nigh spent. At 
this time, his uncle, who had the place at his disposal, 
offered him the clerkship of the Journals of the House of 
Lords. Cowper gladly accepted the offer, as the business 
being transacted in private, would be especially suited to 
his disposition, which was shy and reserved to a remark- 
able degree. But some political opposition arising, it was 
found necessary that he should prepare himself for an ex- 
amination at the bar of the House. And now began a 
course of mental suffering, such as, perhaps, has never 
been described, except in his own fearful " Memoir." " I 
Icnew" says he, " to demonstration, that on these terms, 
the clerkship of the Journals was no place for me, to whom 
a public exhibition of myself on any occasion, was mortal 
poison." As the time for his examination approached, his 
distress of mind increased. He even hoped, and expected, 
that his intellect would fail him, in time to excuse his ap- 
pearance at the bar. " But the day of decision drew 
near" he continues, " and I was still in my senses. At 
last came the grand temptation ; — the point, to which Sa- 
tan had all the time been driving me ; the dark and hellish 
purpose of self-murder." In short, after several irresolute 
attempts at suicide, by poison and drowning, Cowper 
actually hanged himself to the door of his chamber ; and 
only escaped death by the breaking of his garter, by which 
he was suspended. All thoughts of the office were now, 
of course, given up. His insanity remained, but its form 
was somewhat modified. He was no longer disposed to 
suicide, but " conviction of sin, and especially of that just 
committed," and despair of God's mercy, were now never 
absent from his thoughts. In every book that he opened he 



MEMOIR OF COAVPER. 9 

found something which struck him to the heart. He almost 
believed that the " voice of liis conscience was loud enough 
for any one to hear ;" and he thought that " the people in 
the street stared and laughed" at him. When he attempted 
to repeat the creed, which he did, in experiment of his faith, 
he felt a sensation in his brain, " like a tremulous vibra- 
tion of all its fibres," and thus lost the words ; and he 
therefore concluded, in unspeakable agony, that he had 
committed the unpardonable sin. At length, he became 
a raving madman, and his friends now placed him at 
St. Albans, under the care of Dr. Cotton, a skilful and 
humane physician. Sometime previous to his removal to 
St. Albans, Cowper wrote the following Stanzas, descrip- 
tive of his state of mind : 

Hatred and vengeance — my eternal portion 
Scarce can endure delay of execution — 
Wait with impatient readiness. to seize my 

Soul in a moment. 

Damned below Judas ; more abhorred than he was 
Who for a few pence sold his holy Master 1 
Twice betrayed Jesus me, the last delinquent, 

Deems the profanest, 

Man disavows, and Deity disowns me. 
Hell might aflbrd my miseries a shelter ; 
Therefore, Hell keeps her ever-hungry mouths all 
Bolted against me. 

Hard lot ! encompassed with a thousand dangers ; 
Weary, faint, trembling with a thousand terrors, 
I'm called in anguish to receive a sentence 

Worse than Abiram's. 

" This," says Southey, " was the character of his mad- 
ness — the most dreadful in which madness can present 
itself. He threw away the Bible, as a book in which he 
no longer had any interest or portion. A vein of self 



10 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

loathing and abhorrence ran through all his insanity, and 
he passed some months in continual expectation that the 
Divine vengeance -would instantly plunge him into the bot- 
tomless pit. But horrors in madness are like those in 
dreams; the maniac and the dreamer seem to undergo 
what could not possibly be undergone by one awake or in 
his senses." With Dr. Cotton, Cowper remained five 
months, without amendment; but after discovering va 
rious symptoms of returning reason, during the next three 
*'my despair," he says, "suddenly took wings, and left 
me in joy unspeakable, and full of glory." 

When his recovery was considered complete, his 
relatives subscribed an annual allowance, just sufficient, 
with his own small means, to support him respectably ia 
retirement, and sent him to reside at Huntingdon. Here 
he soon became greatly attached to the family of Mr. 
Unwin, a clergyman, in whose house he finally took up 
his abode. From tliis excellent family he never separated, 
until death dissolved their connexion. Mrs. Unwin, the 
" Mary" of one of his most popular minor poems, was his 
friend in health, and his nurse in sickness, for more than 
twenty years. 

Of his way of life at Huntingdon, he thus writes : " As 
to what the world calls amusements, we have none. We 
refuse to take part in them, and by so doing have acquired 
the name of Methodists. We breakfast between eight and 
nine : till eleven we read the Scriptures or the sermons 
of some faithful preacher, when we attend divine service, 
which is performed here, twice every day." Walking, 
gardening, reading, religious conversation, and singing 
hymns, filled up the interval till evening, when they again 
had a sermon or hymns, and closed the day with family 
worship. " I need not say," he continues, " that such a 
life as this is consistent with the utmost cheerfulness ; ac- 
cordingly we are all happy." At this time Cowper had 



^ 



MEMOIR OF COWrER. 11 

little communication with his relatives, and none with his 
former companions. 

In July 1767, Mr. Unwin died ; his children had pre- 
viously settled in life ; and Cowper and Mrs. Unwin unit- 
ing their means of living, now much reduced, went to 
reside at Olney. Here they lived many years under the 
pastoral care of the celebrated Mr. Newton, with whom 
they were in the strictest habits of personal intimacy. 

" Mr. Newton," says Southey, " was a man, whom it 
■was impossible not to admire for his strength and sincerity 
of heart, vigorous intellect, and sterling worth. A siu- 
cerer friend Cowper could not have found : he might have 
found a more discreet one." Cowper's religious duties 
and exercises were now much more arduous than at Hunt- 
ingdon. This " man of trembling sensibilities" attended 
the sick, and administered consolation to the dying ; and 
so constantly was he employed in offices of tliis kind, that 
he was considered as a sort of curate to Mr. Newton. In 
the pi-ayer-meetings which Mr. Newton established, Cow- 
per, to whom " public exhibition of himself was mortal 
poison," was expected to take a part. " I have heard him 
say," says Mr. Greatheed, in Cowper's funeral sermon, 
« that when he was expected to take the lead in your so- 
cial worship, his mind was always greatly agitated for 
some hours preceding." 

Cowper's correspondence with his friends was now even 
more restricted than heretofore. This was partly owing 
to his engagements with Mr. Newton, from whom he was 
seldom " seven waking hours apart ;" but it was the ten- 
dency of those engagements to restrict his sympathies, and 
render his friendships torpid. "A letter on any other subject 
than that of religion," he writes at this time, " is more 
insipid to me, than even my task was when a school-boy." 
He read little, and had little society except that of Mr. 
Newton and Mrs. Uawin ; and the only really intellectual 



12 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

occupation, in which he was engaged for nearly seven 
years, was the composition of some of the " Olney 
Hymns." This, Hayley represents as a "perilous employ- 
ment" for a mind like Cowper's ; "and if," says Southey, 
* Cowper expressed his own state of mind in these hymns, 
(and that he did so, who can doubt) Hayley has drawn the 
right conclusion from the fact." 

His malady was now about to return. Its recur- 
rence has been referred to various causes ; — the death o£ 
his brother, and a supposed engagement of marriage with 
Mrs. Unwin, have both been adduced, as the probable oc- 
casions ; the latter of which, Southey considers as utterly 
unfounded. 

Cowper's mind was, doubtless, at all times, highly sus- 
ceptible of derangement from several causes. The disease, 
which was inherent to his constitution, only required some 
untoward circumstance to develop it. And the chief dis- 
turbing influence at this time, appears to have been reli- 
gious excitement. His tender, willing, and easily-troubled 
spirit, had so often thrilled with the exstasies of devotion ; 
and had so often been agitated and repulsed by those of its 
duties, which were uncongenial, and to him, even revolt- 
ing, that it at last became epileptic. He sometimes speaks 
of his heart as if it was paralized ; and the moaning burden 
of his later hymns is that he "cannot feel." According to 
Mr. IVewton's own account of himself, " his name was up 
through the country, for preaching people mad ;" it would 
therefore seem to follow, that he should have been the last 
person in the world, to take spiritual charge of one, who 
had once been a madman. But from whatever cause, in 
January, 1773, Cowper's case had become one of decided 
insanity. Medical advice was not sought until eight months 
after this time ; as Mr. Newton, believing his disease to 
be entirely the work of the Enemy, expected his cure only 
by the special interposition of Providence. " From what 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 13 

I told Dr. Cotton," Mr. JVewton writes in August, " he 
seemed to think it a difficult case. It may be so according 
to medical rules; but I still hope the Great Physi- 
cian will cure him either by giving a blessing to means, 
or immediately by His own hand." But Cowper still 
continued to grow worse, and in the following Octo- 
ber, he attempted suicide. A remarkable characteristic of 
his delirium, at this time, and one which shows how 
strongly, even in insanity, Cowper was influenced by con- 
science, was his perfect submission to what he believed to 
be the will of God. " And he believed," says Mr. New- 
ton, " that it was the will of God, he should, after the ex- 
ample of Abraham, perform an expensive act of obedience, 
and offer not a son, but himself." He again believed, as 
heretofore, that, by a sort of special act, he had been ex- 
cluded from salvation, and all the gifts of the spirit; and 
with " deplorable consistency," says Mr. Greathecd, 
"abstained not only from public and domestic worship, 
but also from private prayer." 

In this state of hopeless misery he remained till the en- 
suing May, when he began to manifest symptoms of amend- 
ment. " Yesterday," writes Mr. Newton, May 14th, 
"as he was feeding chickens, — for he is always busy if he 
can get out of doors, — some little incident made him smile.' 
I am pretty sure it was the first smile that has been seen 
upon his face for more than sixteen months." Soon after 
tliis he began to pay some attention to gardening : and in 
gardening, and other light occupations, he continued to 
employ himself nearly two years, gradually improving in 
health and spirits, but incapable of being entertained either 
by books or company. It was at this interval that Cowper 
amused himself with the far-famed hares, Tiney, Puss 
and Bess, which he has immortalized, both in verse and 
prose. 

But in the autumn of 1777, though his fatal delusion re- 



14 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

specting Iiis spiritual welfare continued, his intellect and 
social feelings awoke to activity. He now renewed his 
correspondence with some of his old friends, his love of 
reading revived, and he occasionally produced a small 
poem. Mrs. Unwin, observing the happy effect of com- 
position on his health and spirits, now excited him to more 
decided literary exertion ; and, at her suggestion, he com- 
menced his Moral Satires. So eagerly did he pursue his 
new employment, that the first of these poems was written 
in December, 1780, and the last in the following March. 

These productions met with the approbation of his 
friends, and by them, — for Cowper was almost indifferent 
on the subject, — it was finally determined to publish 
them. 

Mr. Newton had the year previous, much to Cowper's 
regret, removed to London. But the loss of his society, 
was for a time, more than made up by a new acquaintance. 
This was Lady Austen, a highly intelligent and agreeable 
•woman, the widow of a baronet, who, while Cowper was 
preparing his volume for the press, visited Olney ; and the 
acquaintance which was tlien formed, soon ripened into such 
warm friendship, between Cowper and Mrs. Unwin, and 
herself, that she ultimately, in consequence, came to Olney 
to reside. Their kindly intercourse, however, after con- 
tinuing about two years, was unhappily broken off; and 
love and jealousy have been mentioned as among the causes 
of their estrangement. That there may have been jealousy 
of attention and of influence between " two women con- 
stantly in the society of one man," and that man, Cowper, 
all, who know the female heart, will readily believe. But 
it does not appear, as has been asserted, that there was any 
expectation of marriage entertained by either of the parties. 
Cowper, and Mrs. Unwin, who was considerably older 
than himself, had now lived together some years on joint 
income; and no pecuniary objection existed to their union. 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 15 

But the only union, that either desired, had long since been 
formed. It was a union purely of the nobler sympathies — 
of religious and social feelings — of self-sacrificing devoted- 
ness, and of consequent grateful affection ; — such as must, 
almost of necessity, arise between a man and a woman, 
possessed of the highest moral qualities, and rela- 
tively situated, as they were to each other, but which the 
vulgar and censorious (great and small) cannot or will not 
understand. As to Lady Austen, Cowper's own account 
of the matter is, that she had too much vivacity for their 
staid course of life, that the attentions she exacted inter- 
fered with his studies, and that she was too easily offended ; 
hence a coldness ensued, and finally a separation. But 
while the intimacy continued, Lady Austen undoubtedly 
exercised a highly valuable influence on Cowper's literary 
efforts. " Had it not been for Mrs. Unwin," says Southcy, 
" Cowper would probably never have appeared in his owu 
person as an author; had it not been for Lady Austen, he 
■would never have been a popular one." His first volume 
of Poems, which was published in 1789, obtained but little 
notice, except among his friends ; but to please his friends 
was sufficient for Cowper, and he continued to write, not- 
withstanding the disregard of the public. Lady Austen, 
whose conversation, for a time, is said to have had "as 
happy an effect on his spirits as the harp of David upon 
Saul," one afternoon, when he was unusually depressed, 
told him the story of John Gilpin, which she had heard in 
her childhood. The story amused him greatly, and before 
the next morning, he had turned it into a ballad. This 
soon found its way into the newspapers, and sometime af^ 
terwards, it was recited, with wonderful effect, by Hen- 
derson, the actor, who was then delivering public recita- 
tions at Freemason's Hall. The ballad now became sud- 
denly popular, and Gilpin was to be seen in every print- 
•bop, while the author was unkuown. Meantime tha 



16 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

Task, suggested abo by Lady Austen, and far the best 
and most popular of his longer poems, had been completed ; 
it was published in 1785, and with it, was printed John 
Gilpin. Cowper was therefore known to be its author ; and 
those who had been amused with the ballad, now read the 
Task, and inquired for his previous volume, and Cowper 
became, at once, the most popular poet of the day. 

In November, 1784, immediately after the completion 
of the Task, Cowper began the translation of Homer. 
He had now found by experience that regular employmen* 
was essential to his well-being ; — employment too, of a 
really intellectual nature, such as would call into activity, 
■without too much exciting, the best powers of his mind. 
" A long and perplexing thought," he said, " buzzed about 
in his brain, till it seemed to be breaking all the fibres of 
it." "Plaything-avocations" wearied him; while such 
as engaged him much, and attached him closely, were rather 
serviceable than otherwise. 

The unfaithfulness of Pope's translation of Homer had 
long been universally acknowledged by scholars, and Cow- 
per, who was well qualified for the task, after translating 
one book, as he says, for want of employment, " became 
convinced that he could render an acceptable service to the 
literary world by translating the whole." The under- 
taking thus commenced, he availed himself of the Gentle- 
man's Magazine to produce on the public, an impression 
favorable to his design, and issued proposals to publish by 
subscription. His Poems had been given away, and when 
published, he had been careless of popular lavor in respect 
to them. But fame, coming, as it did, unexpectedly, was 
not the less welcome to him ; and he was now, not only 
anxious to sustain it, by the success of his present un- 
dertaking, but also to secure a profitable result to him- 
self. " Five hundred names," he writes, " at three guineas, 
will put about a thousand pounds in my purse; and I 



MEMOIR OF COWP£R. 17 

am doing my best to obtain them." And again, to Lady 
Hesketh, " I am not ashamed to confess that having com- 
menced author, 1 am most abundantly desirous to succeed 
as such. I have (what perhaps you little suspect me of) 
in my nature, an infinite share of ambition. But with it, 
I have at the same time, as you well know, an equal share 
of diffidence. To this combination of opposite qualities, 
it has been owing, that till lately, I stole through life with- 
out undertaking anything, yet always wishing to distin- 
guish myself." 

During this and the following year, Cowper advanced 
steadily with his translation, receiving much attention and 
encouragement from his friends. Through the kindness 
of Lady Hesketh, and his neighbor. Sir John Throck- 
morton, he and Mrs. Unwin were enabled to remove to 
the Lodge, at Weston-Underwood, about a mile from 
Olney, which was far more commodious and healthful, 
than their habitation at Olney. 

Lady Hesketh's occasional visits, at this time, were also 
a source of much enjoyment to him, and his grateful and 
affectionate heart was strongly moved and interested by 
the singular kindness manifested for him by an anonymous 
correspondent. " Hours and hours and hours," he 
writes Lady Hesketh, in reference to this subject, "have 
1 spent in endeavors, altogether fruitless, to trace the 
writer of the letter that I send, by a minute examinatioa 
of the character, and never did it strike me, till this 
moment, that your father wrote it." This suspicion, 
Lady Hesketh, who was apparently in the secret, did not 
confirm. The letter in question was, evidently, from some 
one minutely acquainted wjth the circumstances of Cow- 
per's early life ; and after many expressions of kindness 
and encouragement, the writer concludes by presenting 
him with an annuity of fifty pounds. After receiving 
another letter from the same source, Cowper writeaj 
2 



18 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

"Anonymous is come again. May God bless him, who- 
ever he may be ;" and he adds, in a postscript, " I kept my 
letter unsealed to the last moment, that I might give you 
an account of the expected parcel. It is, at all pointi, 
worthy of the letter-writer. Snuff-box, purse, notes — 
Bess, Puss, Tiney — all safe. Again may God bless him !'* 
On the snuff-box, was a view of the " Peasant's Nest," as 
described in the Task, with the figures of three hares in 
the foreground. And for these " womanly presents," as 
Southey calls them, he appoints Lady Hesketh his " re- 
ceiver general of thanks ;" as " it is very pleasant, my dear 
cousin," he says, " to receive presents, so delicately con- 
veyed, but it is also very painful to have nobody to thank 
for them." " Alas, the love of woman !" Southey conjec- 
tures that Anonymous was no other than Theodora, the 
object of Cowper's early love, whom he had not seen for 
five-and-twenty years. 

In one of those sincere, aflfectionate, and inimitably 
graceful letters, written, about this time, to his favorite 
cousin. Lady Hesketh, which have secured to Cowper the 
title of " the best of English letter-writers," he gives the 
following retrospect of his state of mind : — 

" You do not ask me, my dear, for an explanation of 
what I could mean by anguish of mind. Because you do 
not ask, and because your reason for not asking consists of 
a delicacy and tenderness peculiar to yourself; for that 
very cause I will tell you. A wish suppressed is more ir- 
resistible than many wishes plainly uttered. Know then, 
that in the year 1773, the same scene that was acted at St. / 
Alban's, opened upon me again at Olney, only covered by 
a still deeper shade of melancholy ; and ordained to be of 
much longer duration. I was suddenly reduced from my 
wonted rate of understanding, to an almost childish imbe- 
cility. I did not, indeed, lose my senses, but I lost the 
power to exercise them. I could return a rational answer, 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 19 

even to a difficult tjuestion ; but a question was necessary, 
or I never spoke. I believed that every body hated me, 
and that Mrs. Unwin hated me worst of all, — was con- 
vinced that all my food was poisoned, together with ten 
thousand megrims of the same stamp. I would not be 
more circumstantial than is necessary. Dr. Cotton wag 
consulted. He recommended particular vigilance lest I 
should attempt my life, — a caution for which there was the 
greatest occasion. At the same time that I was convinced 
of Mrs. Unwin's aversion to me, I could endure no other 
companion. The whole management of me consequently 
devolved upon her, and a terrible task she had. She per- 
formed it, however, with a cheerfulness hardly ever equal- 
led on such an occasion ; and I have often heard her say, 
that if she ever praised God in her life, it was when she 
found that she was to have all the labor. Methinks I hear 
you ask, — your affection for me, will, I know, make yoa 
wish to do so, — "Is your malady removed?" I reply, ia 
a great measure, but not quite. Occasionally I am much 
distressed, but that distress becomes continually less fre- 
quent, and, I think, less violent. I find writing, and es- 
pecially poetry my best remedy. Perhaps had I understood 
music, I had never written verse, but had lived on fiddle- 
strings instead. ... I have been emerging gradually 
from this pit. As soon as I became capable of action, I 
commenced carpenter, made cupboards, boxes and stoob. 
I grew weary of this in about a twelvemonth, and address- 
ed myself to the making of bird-cages. To this employ- 
ment succeeded that of gardening, which I intermingled 
with that of drawing ; but finding that the latter occupa- 
tion injured my eyes, I renounced it, and commenced poet. 
I have given you, my dear, a little history in short hand. 
I know it will touch your feelings ; but do not let it inte- 
rest them too much." 
According to Cowper's narrative of his first attack, he 



20 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

believed that his disease was entirely the work of the 
Enemy, and that his recovery was supernatural. Mr. 
Ifewton and Mrs. Unwin were of tlie same opinion, and 
many months elapsed, as we hare seen, after the com- 
mencement of the second attack, — much the most violent 
and protracted, — before they could bring themselves to 
seek earthly remedies. But Mr. Newton was now away, 
and Mrs. Unwin, says Southey, "was governed by her na- 
tural good sense ;" and the rational view of his condition 
■which Cowper took at the time of writing this letter, wa» 
such as to induce the reasonable hope of his perfect resto- 
ration. Of the religious impulses by which he had been 
actuated, while at Olney, he thus speaks : " Good is in- 
tended, but harm is done too often, by the zeal with which I 
•was at that time animated." 

But despair of salvation never wholly left him after his 
second attack ; and this feeling discovers itself, more or 
less strongly, in all his letters to Mr. IVewton. 

From a sincere, but mistaken zeal for Cowper's spiritual 
■welfare, Mr. Newton seems to have interfered at this time, 
rather unwarrantably in his domestic affairs. He objected 
to their removal to Weston ; and because Cowperand Mrs. 
Unwin had occasionally visited the Throckmortons and 
other neighbouring gentry, accused them of deviating into 
forbidden paths, and seeking worldly amusement and society. 
In reply to one of his letters of censure, Cowper says : 
*' You say well that there was a time when I was happy at 
Olney, and I am as happy now as I expect to be anywhere 
without the presence of Grod." And again : " Be assured, 
that notwithstanding all rumors to the contrary, we are 
exactly what we were when you saw us last ; — I mise- 
rable on account of God's departure from me, which I 
beiieve to be final ; and she seeking his return to me in 
the path of duty, and by continual prayer." This was 
his constant and abiding impression ; — and so constant was 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 21 

it, that in time, it lost something of its gloomy effect on 
his spirits. Scott, in his Demonology, narrates the case 
of a man, who was so constantly atteaded by a frightful 
spectral illusion, that from the effect of custom, he came 
at last to speak of it quietly, and was, at times, almost un- 
conscious of its presence. Cowper's case was, in some 
respects, similar to this. He sometimes adverts to his 
■despair as a matter of course, and without much emotion. 
"I would," he writes Mr. Newton, "that I could see 
»ome of the mountains that you have seen ; especially, be- 
cause Dr. Johnson has pronounced that no man is qualified 
io be a poet, who has never seen a mountain. But moun- 
tains I shall never see, unless it be in a dream, or unless 
there are such in heaven; nor then, unless I receive twice 
AS much mercy as ever yet was shown to any man." 

His disease had now been dormant for some years; but 
m January 1787, (a month which he always dreaded,) it 
again became active. He now once more attempted sui- 
cide, and would have effected it, but for Mrs. Unwin, who 
finding him suspended by the neck, possessed presence of 
mind enough to cut him down. His malady was quite as 
levere as on former occasions, but of much shorter dura- 
tion. There is no other account of it than the little 
which his own letters furnish, after his recovery. " My 
indisposition could not be of a worse kind. The sight of 
any face, except Mrs. Unwin's, was an insupportable grie- 
vance. From this dreadful condition I emerged suddenly." 
In about seven months, he appears to have renewed his 
intercourse with his neighbours, and resumed his corres- 
pondence. Writing to Lady Hesketh of his renewed 
health, he says, "I have but little confidence, in truth 
none, in so flattering a change, but expect, when I least 
expect it, to wither agaiu. The past is a pledge for (he 
future." And again, to the same : " I continue to write, 
though in compassion to my pate, you advised me, for the 



5» MEMOIR OF COWFER. 

present, to abstain. In reality, I have no need, at least I 
believe not, of any such caution. Those jarrings which 
made my skull feel like a broken egg-shell, and those 
twirls which I spoke of, have been removed by an infusion 
of bark." In another letter, he thus playfully speaks of 
his diseased sensations: "I have a perpetual diu in my 
head, and though I am not deaf, hear nothing aright; 
neither my own voice, nor that of others. I am under a 
tub, from which tub, accept my best love. Yours, 

W.C." 

But in the letter with which he renewed his correspond- 
ence with Mr. Newton, he still speaks of gloom and de- 
spair, and of" the storms of which even the remembrance, 
makes hope impossible." The same letter also exhibits s 
peculiar and distinct feature in this most remarkable case ol 
insanity. " My dear friend," he begins, " after a long but 
necessary interruption of our correspondence, I return to 
it again, in one respect at least, better qualified for it thau 
before ; I mean by a belief in your identity, which for 
thirteen years I did not believe." 

Cowper now resumed his translation, which he pursued 
during the next four years, with little interruption. In 
the circumstances of his life at this time, there was much 
to cheer him. His abode was comfortable, his employ- 
ment satisfactory, his reputation established and increas- 
ing, he had renewed his correspondence with his rela- 
tives, and some of the companions of his early life, by 
whom he was occasionally visited ; and Lady Hesketh's 
annual visits, and the society of the Throckmortons, which, 
notwithstanding Mr. Newton's censure, he and Mrs. 
Unwin still continued to enjoy, afforded him the relaxa- 
tion of happy social intercourse. An incident, too, which 
with its attendant circumstances, added much to Cowper's 
happiness during the latter portion of this interval, was 
the receipt of his mother's picture. " It was his lot," to 



MEMOIR OP COWPER. 23 

quote Southey's Narrative, " liappy indeed in this respect, 
to form new friendships as he advanced in years, instead of 
having to mourn for the dissolution of old ones by death. 
During seven-and-twenty years he had held no intercourse 
with his maternal relations, and knew not whether they 
■were living or dead ; the malady which made him with- 
draw from the world seems, in its milder consequences, to 
have withheld him from making any inquiry concerning 
them ; and from their knowledge he had entirely disap- 
peared till he became known to the public. One of a 
younger generation was the first to seek him out. This 
was Mr. John Johnson, grandson of his mother's brother. 
.... During his visit he observed with what affection 
Cowper spoke of his mother ; the only portrait of her 
was in possession of her niece, Mrs. Bodham, who had 
been a favourite cousin of Cowper 's in her childhood ; and 
upon young Johnson's report of his visit, on his return 
home, this picture was sent to Weston as a present, with 
a letter from his kinswoman, written in the fulness of her 
heart. It was replied to with kindred feeling, thus:"— 

" My dear Rose, whom I thought withered and fallen 
from the stalk, but whom I find still alive : nothing could 
give me greater pleasure than to know it, and to learn it 
from yourself. I loved you dearly when you were a child, 
and love you not a jot the less for having ceased to be so. 
Every creature that bears any affinity to my mother is dear 
to me, and you, the daughter of her brother, are but one 
remove distant from her: I love you, therefore, and love 
you much, both for her sake and for your own. The 
world could not have furnished you with a present so ac- 
ceptable to me as the picture you have so kindly sent me. 
I received it the night before last, and viev/ed it with a 
trepidation of nerves and spirits somewhat akin to what I 
Bhould have felt, had the dear original presented herself to 



24 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

my embraces. I kissed it and hung it where it is the last 
object that I See at night, and, of course, the first on whic'i 
I open my eyes in the morning. She died when I com- 
pleted my sixth year ; yet I remember her well, and am 
cccular witness of the great fidelity of the copy. I remem- 
ber, too, a multitude of the maternal tendernesses which I 
received from her, and which have endeared her memory 
to me beyond expression. There is in me, I believe, more 
of the Donne than of the Covvper ; and though I love all 
of both names, and have a thousand reasons to love thoiie 
of my own name, yet I feel the bond of nature draw me 
vehemently to your side. I was thought in the days of my 
childhood muc.i to resemble my mother ; and in my natu- 
ral temper, of which at the age of fifty-eight I must be 
supposed to be a competent judge, can trace both her, and 
my late uncle, your father. Somewhat of his irritability ; 
and a little, I would hope, both of his and her, — I know 
not what to call it, without seeming to praise myself, which 
is not my intention, — but speaking to you, I will even 
speak out, and say good nature. Add to this, I deal much 
in poetry, as did our venerable ancestor, the Dean of St. 
Pauls's, and I think I have proved myself a Donne at all 
points. The truth is, that whatever I am, I love you all. 
I am much obliged to Mr. Bodham for his kindness to my 
Homer, and with my love to you all, and Mrs. Unwin's 
kind respects, am 

My dear, dear Rose, ever yours, 

W. C." 

About this time, the laureateship became vacant by the 
death of Warton ; Cowper was always ready at occasional 
verses ; and his friends were desirous to procure the office 
for him ; but he declined their services in this matter, in 
the following letter to Lady Hesketh' — 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 25 

The Lodge, May'SBth, 1790. 
My Dearest Coz, 

I thank thee for the offer ot thy best services on this 
occasion. But Heaven guard my brows from the wreath 
you mention, whatever wreath beside may hereafter adorn 
them ! It would be a leaden extinguisher clapped on all 
the fire of my genius, and I would never more produce a 
line worth reading. To speak seriously, it would make 
me miserable, and therefore I am sure that thou, of all my 
friends, would least wish me to wear it. 

Adieu, ever thine — in Homer-hurry. 

-^ W. C. 

In the summer of 1791, his Homer was published ; and 
"Jiough it does not now hold that rank among the translated 
classics, which he and his friends expected it would estab- 
lish for itself, it was, at the time, well received, its merits 
as a faithful version were allowed ; and on settling with 
his bookseller, Cowper expressed himself satisfied with the 
pecuniary result of his labor. " Few of my concerns," 
said he, " have been so happily concluded." 

In the following August, (17^,) Cowper made a three- 
days' journey into Sussex, to visit, at Eartham, his friend 
Haley, the poet, who had sought and made his acquaint- 
ance the previous year. He was so unaccustomed to travel 
that the journey was undertaken only at the earnest en- 
treaty of his friend, and not without many misgivings. 
" I laugh," he writes Haley, a few days before he set out, 
" to think what stuff these solicitudes are made of, and 
what an important thing it is for me to travel, while other 
men steal from their homes, and make no disturbance." 
Again : — " Fortunately for my intentions, as the day 
approaches, my terrors abate, for had they continued what 
they were a week since, I must, after all, have disappoint- 
ed you." At Eartham Cowper met Hurdis, Charlotte 



Zb MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

Smith, the novelist, and Romney ; to the latter of whom he 
sat for his portrait. During the first part of the six weeks, 
which he spent with Haley and his friends, their society 
had a beneficial effect on his spirits ; but at last, he be- 
gan to be somewhat dejected, and evidently longed for the 
repose and seclusion of Weston. New scenes and strange 
objects, he complained, dissipated his powers of thinking, 
and comjwsition, and even letter-writing became irksome 
to him. " I am, in truth," he writes, " so unaccountably 
local in the use of the pen, that, like the man in the fable, 
who could only leap well at Rhodes, I seem incapable of 
writing at all, except at Weston. It has an air of snug 
concealment, in which a disposition like mine is peculiarly 
gratified." On his way home, he passed but a single 
night, — and that a gloomy one, — in London, which he had 
not visited since he left it, a madman, in 1763. This was 
the only long journey that Cowper ever made. The year 
previous he wrote Hurdis, " I have not been thirteen 
miles from home these twenty years, and so far but 
seldom." 

The translation of Homer, which occupied him nearly six 
years, was the last literary undertaking of importance which 
Cowper lived to finish. At the suggestion of a friend, he 
commenced a poem on the Four Ages, of which, he at first, 
had high hopes, but he was unable to make much progress 
in it. Previously to his engagement with Homer, he had 
commenced an original work with a similar resulL.' His 
Task and other poems had been written with ease and ra- 
pidity; but "the rnind,"he remarked, in reference to this 
subject, "is not a fountain, but a cistern." The facta, 
observations, and impressions, which had been accumu- 
lating in his mind, during the somewhat long period of his 
life, before he commenced author, had gradually become, 
as it were, crystalized into thoughts and images of beauti- 
ful clearness and precision ; and to polish these and arrange 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 27 

them into verse, was a healthful and amusing occupation 
rather than an irksome labor. But his resources for ori- 
ginal composition appear to have been mainly exhausted 
when he had finished the Task. For a man of literature, 
his reading was limited ; he had seen but little ; and though 
he saw clearly and felt strongly, what he saw and felt at 
all, and transferred his impressions with admirable dis- 
tinctness to the minds of others, yet his sympathies were 
not extensive ; and where he was not attracted, he was too 
often repulsed. At the request of friends, he wrote a few 
ballads on Slavery, and he was repeatedly urged to make 
this the subject of an extended poem ; but he rejected the 
theme as "odious and disgusting;" one which he could not 
bear to contemplate. Poet of nature as he was, his enjoy- 
ment, even, of natural scenery was limited ; and he com- 
plained, on his visit to Haley, that the wildness of the 
hills and woods around Eartham oppressed his spirits. 
" Cowper," says Sir James Mackintosh, " does not describe 
the most beautiful scenes in nature ; he discovers what is 
most beautiful in ordinary scenes. His poetical eye and 
his moral heart detected beauty in the sandy flats of Buck- 
inghamshire." 

Another design, which he undertook, at the request of 
Johnson, his bookseller, and which was also left unfinish- 
ed, was a new edition of Milton, which was intended to 
rival in splendor, Boydell's Shakspeare. But Cowper was 
now beginning to feel the effects of age as well as of dis- 
ease. Not only this, but his old and dear friend, and 
faithful and affectionate nurse, Mrs. Unwin, "who had 
known no wish but his for the last twenty years," had now 
fallen into a state of hopeless imbecility. " Their relative 
situation to each other," says Southey, "was now revers- 
ed. She was the helpless person, and he the attentive 
nurse. As her reasoning faculties decayed, her character 
underwent a total change, and she exacted constant atten- 



28 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

tion from him without the slightest consideration for his 
health or state of mind. Poor creatures thai we are, even 
the strength of religious principle and virtuous habit, fail 
us, if reason fails." 

This circumstance sensibly affected his spirits ; and 
though no sudden and striking change henceforth took 
place in his demeanor, it now became evident that reason 
was gradually losing its influence over his mind. This 
was especially shewn by a correspondence which he com- 
menced, about this time, with one Teedon, a poor, con- 
ceited schoolmaster, of Olney. Cowper had long been 
troubled, not only with hideous dreams, but with audible 
illusions. During the night, and on waking in the morn- 
ing, he frequently heard, as he said, some sentence uttered 
in a distinct voice, to which he gave implicit credit, as 
having some relation either to his temporal or spiritual 
concerns. He had long known Teedon, and understood 
his character ; and in former days, had sometimes been 
amused with his vanity and conceit. But he had now, by 
some means, become persuaded that this man was especi- 
ally favored by Providence ; and to him, the sentences 
which he heard, with an account of his dreams and other 
nocturnal experiences, were regularly sent ofl"; and the 
result of these " pitiable consultations," Cowper carefully 
wrote in a book till he had filled several volumes. The 
following will serve as specimens of these letters. " Dear 
Sir — I awoke this morning, with these words relating to 
my work [Milton] loudly and distinctly spoken — ' Apjily 
assistance in my case indigent and necessitatis.' " Again : 
*' This morning, at my waking, I heard these — ' Fulfil thy 
promise to me.' " On another occasion, he writes Teedon 
as follows. — " I have been visited with a horrible dream, 
in which I seemed to be taking a final leave of my dwell- 
ing. I felt the tenderest regret at the separation, and 
looked about for something durable to carry with me as a 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 29 

memorial. The iron hasp of the garden-door presenting 
itself, I was on the point of taking that, but recollecting 
that the heat of the fire, in which I was going to be tor- 
minted, would fuse the metal, and that it would only serve 
to increase my insupportable misery, I left it. I then 
avoke in ail the horror with which the reality of such 
circumstances would fill me." Thus, " hunted by spiritual 
hounds in the night season," and by day, " forecasting the 
fashion of uncertain evils." the gloom of despair was now 
setthng down on Cowper for the last time. His temporal 
wants were, however, now amply provided for ; a pension 
of three hundred pounds having been granted him by 
government. 

In the summer of 1795, his friends thought it advisable 
that he and Mrs. Unwin, (for it would have been cruel to 
separate them,) should visit the coast for the benefit of the 
sea air. Ailer a short sojourn at Mundsley, productive of 
little advantage, they finally went to reside at East Dere- 
ham, in Norfolk, at the house of Cowper's cousin, the 
Rev. John Johnson, the relative mentioned in a former 
part of this narrative, who procured for him the portrait 
of his mother. Here Cowper remained to the end of his 
life, and here Mrs. Unwin died some time before him. 
When his health and spirits would permit, Cowper occu- 
pied himself at Dereham with the revisal of his Homer, 
and he sometimes wrote a few verses. The last original 
piece that he composed was the Castaway; and in the 
words of Southey, " all circumstances considered, it is one 
of the most afiecting that ever was composed." At length, 
however, he refused either to read or write, and his only 
employment afterwards, was in listening to works of fiction 
— almost the only books that appeared to interest him : and 
*' so happy," says Mr. Johnson, " was the influence of 
these in riveting his attention, that he discovered peculiar 
•atisfaction when any one of more than ordinary length 



30 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

was introduced." This being perceived by his kinsman, 
the novels of Richardson were obtained, and they afforded 
him the more pleasure on account of his former personal 
acquaintance with the author. " Perhaps too," Southey 
adds, " there may be more satisfaction in re-perusing a 
good book after an interval of many years, than is felt in 
reading it for the first time." These readings did not, 
however wholly abstract Cowper's mind from the contem- 
plation of his own wretched state. In one of the few most 
melancholy letters which he wrote during these years to 
Lady Hesketh, he says, " I expect that in six days, at the 
latest, I shall no longer foresee, but feel the accomplish- 
ment of all my fears. O, lot of unexampled misery incur- 
red in a moment ! O wretch ! to whom death and life are 
alike impossible ! Most miserable at present in this, that 
being thus miserable I have my senses continued to me, 
only that I may look forward to the worst. It is certain, 
at least, that I have them for no other purpose, and but 
very imperfectly for this. My thoughts are like loose and 
dry sand, which, the closer it is grasped, slips the sooner 
away. Mr. Johnson reads to me, but I lose every other 
sentence through the inevitable wanderings of my mind, 
and experience, as I have these two years, the same shat- 
tered mode of thinking on every subject, and on all occa- 
sions. If I seem to write with more connexion, it is only 
because the gaps do not appear. 

" Adieu. — I shall not be here to receive your answer, 
neither shall I ever see you more. Such is the expectation 
of the most desperate, and the most miserable of all beings. 

W. C.» 

The last reading which Cowper heard was that of his own 
Poems. He listened in silence to Mr. Johnson, till they 
came to John Gilpin, but this he begged his kinsman to 
omit. In February, 1800, he was taken with dropsy, 
which iu a short time confined him to his chamber. The 



MEMOIR OF COWPER. 31 

physician who was called to attend him, asking him " how 
he felt?" "Feel!" said Cowper, "I feel unutterable 
despair!" To the consolations of religion he refused to 
listen ; and when, on one occasion, Mr. Johnson spoke to 
him of a " merciful Redeemer, who had prepared un- 
speakable happiness for all his children, — and therefore 
for him," Cowper, with passionate entreaties, begged him 
to desist from any further observations of a similar kind. 
A few days after this sad scene, the attendant offering him 
a cordial, he rejected it, saying, " What can it signify ;" 
and these were the last words he was heard to utter. He 
died on the following morning, the 25th of April, 1800. 

No one, it would seem, can read Southey's Biography 
of this blameless and suffering man of genius, without 
strong feelings of regret that he did not, earlier in life, re- 
sort to literature as a serious employment. Full and 
congenial occupation was absolutely indispensible, not 
merely, as in ordinary cases, to his enjoyment of 
life, but to his exemption from the most cruel disease ; 
and to any other pursuits than those of literature, 
his wretched nervous system rendered him utterly incom- 
petent. What Goethe says of Hamlet, may, with some 
modification, apply to Cowper. Any of the common avoca- 
tions, and any of the onerous and vexatious duties of life, 
were to him as " an oak tree planted in a costly jar, which 
should have borne only pleasant flowers in its bosom ; the 
roots expand, the jar is shivered." It is scarcely probable 
that any combination of circumstances could have availed, 
■wholly to avert the malady which poisoned his existence. 
His whole system, both of mind and body was so peculiar 
in its organization, — so admirable in some of its parts, and 
so feeble and defective in others, — that too much, or too 
little, or any uncongenial action was sure to disturb or 
destroy its balance. But literature, though tried late, 
proved to be infioitelj the best remedy to soothe and regu- 



32 MEMOIR OF COWPER. 

late this diseased action ; and had Cowper found at Hun» 
ingdon, the employment and the society, which he at last, 
after the departure of Mr. Newton, found at Olney and 
Weston, he might, perchance, have eacaped many years of 



THE TASK 

BOOK I. 



THE SOFA. 



ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK. 

Historical deduction of seats, from the Stool to the Sofa — 
A Schoolboy's ramble — A walk in the country— The 
scene described — Rural sounds as well as sights delight- 
ful— Another walk — Mistake concerning the charma 
of solitude corrected — Colonnades commended — Alcove, 
and the view from it — The wilderness— The grove — 
The thresher — The necessity and benefit of exercise — 
The works of nature-superior to, and in some instances 
inimitable by, art — The wearisomeness of what is com- 
monly called a life of pleasure — Change of scene some- 
limes expedient — A common described, and the charac- 
ter of crazy Kate introduced— Gipsies— The blessings 
of civilized life— That state most favourable to virtue— 
The South Sea Islanders compassionate, but chiefly 
Omai— His present state of mind supposed— Civilized 
life friendly to virtue, but not great cities— Great cities, 
and London in particular, allowed their due praise, but 
censured— Fete champetre— The book concludes with- 
a reflection on the fatal effects of dissipation and effemi- 
nacy upon our public measures. 

3 33 



34 THE TASK. 

I SING the Sofa. I, who lately sang 
Truth, Hope, and Charity, and touch'dwithawo 
The solemn chords, and, with a trembling hand, 
Escap'd with pain from that advent' rous flight. 
Now seek repose upon an humbler theme ; 
The theme, though humble, yet august and 

proud 
Th' occasion — for the fair commands the song. 

Time was,^ when clothing, sumptuous or for use. 
Save then" own painted skins, our sires had noiie. 
As yet black breeches were not ; satin smooth. 
Or velvet soft, or plush with shaggy pile : 
The hardy chief, upon the ragged rock 
Wash'd by the sea, or on the gravelly bank 
Thrown up by wintry torrents roaring loud, 
Fearless of wrong,, repos'd his weary strength. 
Those barb' rous ages past, succeeded next 
The birthday of Invention ; weak at first, 
Dull in design, and clumsy to perform. 
Joint-stools were then created ; an three legs 
Upborne they stood. Three legs upholding firm 
A massy slab, in fashion square or round. 
On such a stool immortal Alfred sat, 
And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms : 
And such in ancient halls and mansions drear 
May still be seen ; but perforated sore, 
And drill'd in holes, the solid oak is found. 
By worms voracious eating through and through. 

At length a generation more refin'd 
Improv'd the simple plan ; made three legs four, 



THE TASK. 85 

Gave them a twisted form vermicular, 

And o'er the seat, with plenteous wadding 

stuff'd, 
Indiic'd a splendid cover, green and blue, 
Yellow and red, of tapestry richly wrought 
And woven close, of needlework sublime. 
There might ye see the piony spread wide, 
The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lass, 
Lapdog and lambkin with black staring eyes, 
And parrots with twin cherries in their beak. 
Now came the cane from India, smooth and 

bright, 
With nature's varnish ; sever'd into stripes, 
That interlac'd each other, these supplied 
Of texture firm a lattice-work, that brac'd 
The new machine, and it became a chair. 
But restless was the chair ; the back erect 
Distress'd the weary loins» that felt no ease ; 
The slipp'ry seat betrayed the sliding part 
That press' d it, and the feet hung dangling 

down. 
Anxious in vain to find the distant floor. 
These for the rich ; the rest, whom fate had 

plac'd 
In modest mediocrity, content 
With base materials, sat on well-tann'd hides. 
Obdurate and unyielding, glassy smooth, 
With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn, 
Or scarlet crewel, in the cushion fix'd. 
If cushion might be call'd, what harder seem'd 
Than the firm oak, of which the frame was 

form'd. 



36 THE TASK. 

No want of timber then was felt or fear'd 
In Albion's happy isle. The lumber stood 
Pond'rous and fix'd by its own massy weight. 
But elbows still were wanting; these, some say, 
An alderman of Cripplegate contrived ; 
And some ascribe th' invention to a priest 
Burly, and big, and studious of his ease. 
But rude at first, and not with easy slope 
Receding wide, they press'd against the ribs, 
And bruis'd the side ; and, elevated high, 
Taught the rais'd shoulders to invade the ears. 
Long time elaps'd or e'er our rugged sires 
Complain'd, though incommodiously pent in, 
And ill at ease behind. The ladies first 
'Gan murmur, as became the softer sex. 
Ingenious Fancy, never better pleas'd 
Than when employ'd t' accommodate the fair, 
Heard the sweet moan with pity, and devis'd 
The soft settee ; one elbow at each end, 
And in the midst an elbow it receiv'd, 
United, yet divided, twain at once. 
So sit two kings of Brentford on one throne ; 
And so two citizens, who take the air, 
Close pack'd, and smiling, in a chaise and one. 
But relaxation of the languid frame. 
By soft recumbency of outstretch'd limbs, 
Was bliss reserv'd for happier days. So slow 
The growth of what is excellent ; so hard 
T' attain perfection in this nether world. 
Thus first Necessity invented stools. 
Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs, 
And Luxury th' accompUsh'd Sofa last. 



THE TASK. 37 

The nurse sleeps sweetly, hir'd to watch the 
sick 
Whom snoring she disturbs. As sweetly he, 
Who quits the coach-box at a midnight hour, 
To sleep within the carriage more secure, 
His legs depending at the open door. 
Sweet sleep enjoys the curate in his desk, 
The tedious rector drawling o'er his head ; 
And sweet the clerk below. But neither sleep 
Of lazy nurse, who snores the sick man dead ; 
Nor his, who quits the box at midnight hour 
To slumber in the carriage more secure ; 
Nor sleep enjoy' d by curate in his desk ; 
Nor yet the dozings of the clerk, are sweet, 
Compar'd with the repose the Sofa yields. 

O may I live exempted (while I hve 
Guiltless of pamper' d appetite obscene) 
Erom pangs arthritic, that infest the toe 
Of libertine Excess. The Sofa suits 
The gouty Hmb, 'tis true : but gouty limb, 
Though on a Sofa, may I never feel : 
For I have lov'd the rural walk through lanes 
Of grassy swarth, close cropp'd by nibbling 

sheep. 
And skirted thick with intertexture firm 
Of thorny boughs; have lov'd the rural walk 
O'er hills, through valleys, and by rivers' brink, 
E'er since a truant boy I pass'd my bounds 
T' enjoy a ramble on the banks of Thames ; 
And still remember, not without regret. 
Of hours, that sorrow since has much endear'd, 
How oft, my slice of pocket store consum'd, 



38 THE TASK. 

Still hung' ring, pennyless, and far from home, 

I fed on scarlet hips and stony haws, 

Or blushing crabs, or berries, that emboss 

The bramble, black as jet, or sloes austere. 

Hard fare I but such as boyish appetite 

Disdains not ; nor the palate, undeprav'd 

By culinary arts, unsav'ry deems. 

No Sofa then awaited my return ; 

Nor Sofa then I needed. Youth repairs 

His wasted spirits quickly, by long toil 

Incurring short fatigue ; and, though our years, 

As life declines, speed rapidly away, 

And not a year but pilfers as he goes 

Some youthful grace, that age would gladly 

keep ; 
A tooth or auburn lock, and by degrees 
Their length and colour from the locks they 

spare ; 
The elastic spring of an unwearied foot. 
That mounts the stile with ease, or leaps the 

fence ; 
That play of lungs, inhaling and again 
Respiring freely the fresh air, that makes 
Swift pace or steep ascent no toil to me, 
Mine have not pilfer' d yet ; nor yet impair'd 
My relish of fair prospect ; scenes that sooth'd' 
Or charm' d me young, no longer young, I find 
Still soothing, and of pow'r to charm me still. 
And witness, dear companion of my walks, 
Whose arm this twentienth winter I perceive 
Fast lock'd in mine, with pleasure such as love, 
Confirm'd by long experience of thy worth 



THE TASK. 39 

And well-tried virtues, could alone inspire— 
Witness a joy that tliou hast doubled long. 
Thou know'st my praise of nature most sincere. 
And that my raptures are not conjur'd up 
To serve occasions of poetic pomp, 
But genuine, and art partner of them all. 
How oft vipon yon eminence our pace 
Has slacken'd to a pause, and we have borne 
The ruffling wind, scarce conscious that it blew, 
While Admiration, feeding at the eye, 
And still unsated, dwelt upon the scene ; 
Thence, with what pleasure have we just dis- 

cern'd 
The distant plough slow moving, and beside 
His lab'ring team, that swerv'd not from th© 

track. 
The sturdy swain diminish'd to a boy! 
Here Ouse, slow winding through a level plain 
Of spacious meads, with cattle sprinkled o'er, 
Conducts tlie eye along his sinuous course 
Delighted- Tiiere, fast rooted in their bank, 
Stand, never overlook'd, our fav'rite elms, 
That sci-een the herdsmen's solitary hut ; 
While far beyond, and overthwart the stream, 
That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale, 
The sloping land recedes into the clouds ; 
Displaying on its varied side the grace 
Of hedge-row beauties numberless, square tow'r, 
Tall spire, from which the sound of cheerful bells 
Just undulates upon the list'ning ear, 
Groves, heaths, and smoking villages, remote. 
Scenes must be beautiful, which daily view'd 



40 THE TASK. 

Please daily, and whose novelty survives 
Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years. 
Praise justly due to those that I describe. 

Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds, 
Exhilarate the spirit, and restore 
The tone of languid Nature. Mighty winds, 
That sweep the skirt of some far- spreading wood 
Of ancient growth, make music not unlike 
The dash of Ocean on his winding shore, 
And lull the spirit while they fill the mind ; 
Unnumber'd branches waving in the blast. 
And all their leaves fast flult'ring, all at once. 
Nor less composure waits upon the roar 
Of distant floods, or on the softer voice 
Of neighb'ring fountain, or of rills that slip 
Through the cleft rock, and chiming as they fall 
Upon loose pebbles, lose themselves at length 
In matted grass, that v/ith a livelier green 
Betrays the secret of their silent course. 
Nature inanimate employs sweet sounds 
But animated nature sweeter still, 
To sooth and satisfy the human ear. 
Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one 
The livelong night ; nor these alone, whose notes 
Nice-finger'd Art must emulate in vain, 
But cawing rooks, and kites that swim sublime 
In still-repeated circles, screaming loud. 
The jay, the pie, and e'en the boding owl, 
That hails the rising moon, have charms for me, 
Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh. 
Yet heard in scenes where peace for ever reigns, 
And only there, please highly for their sake. 



THE TASK. 4V 

Peace lo the artist, whose ingenious thought 
Devis'd the weatherhouse, that useful toy ! 
Fearless of humid air and gath'ring rains, 
Forth steps the man — an emblem of myself; 
More delicate his tim'rous mate retires. 
When Winter soaks the fields, and female feet, 
Too weak to struggle with tenacious clay, 
Or ford the rivulets, are best at home. 
The task of new discov'ries falls on me. 
At such a season, and with such a charge» 
Once went I forth ; and found, till then un- 
known, 
A cottage, whither oft we since repair: 
'T is perch' d upon the green hill top, but close 
Environ'd with a ring of branching elms, 
That overhang the thatch, itself unseen 
Peeps at the vale below ; so thick beset 
With foliage of such dark redundant growth, 
I call'd the low-roof 'd lodge the ■peasant's nest. 
And, hidden as it is, and far remote 
From such unpleasing sounds as haunt the ear 
In village or in town, the bay of curs 
Incessant, clinking hammers, grinding wheels, 
And infants clam'rous whether pleas'd or pain'd. 
Oft have I wish'd the peaceful coveret mine. 
Here, I have said, at least I should possess 
The poet's treasure. Silence, and indulge 
The dreams of fancy, tranquil and secure. 
Vain thought ! the dweller in that still retreat 
Dearly obtains the refuge it affords. 
Its elevated site forbids the wretch 
To drink sweet waters of the crystal well ; 



42 THE TASK. 

He dips his bowl into the weedy ditch, 
And, heavy laden, brings his bev'rage home, 
Far fetch'd and little worth; nor seldom wails, 
Dependent on the baker's punctual call, 
To hear his creaking panniers at the door, 
Angry, and sad, and his last crust consum'd. 
So farewell envy of the peasants nest ! 
If solitude make scant the means of life, 
Society for me ! — thou seeming sweet, 
Be still a pleasing object in my view; 
My visit still, but never mine abode. 

Not distant far, a length of colonnade 
Invites us. Monument of ancient taste, 
Now scorn'd, but worthy of a better fate. 
Our fathers knew the value of a screen 
From sultry suns : and, in their shaded walks 
And long protracted bow'rs, enjoy'd at noon 
The gloom and coolness of declining day. 
We bear our shades about us ; self-depriv'd 
Of other screen, the thin umbrella spread, 
And range an Indian waste without a tree. 
Thanks to Benevolus* — he spares me yet 
These chestnuts rang'd in corresponding lines ; 
And, though himself so polish'd, still reprieves 
The obsolete prolixity of shade. 

Descending now (but cautious, lest too fast) 
A sudden steep upon a rustic bridge, 
We pass a gulf, in which the willows dip 
Their pendent boughs, stooping as if to drink. 

* John Courtney Throckmorton, Esq., of Western Un 
derwood. 



THE TASK. 43 

Hence, ankle deep in moss and flow'ry thyme, 
We mount again, and feel at ev'ry step 
Our foot half sunk in hillocks green and soft, 
Rais'd by the mole, the miner of the soil. 
He, not unlike the great ones of mankind, 
Disfigures Earth: and, plotting in the dark, 
Toils much to earn a monumental pile 
That may record the mischief he has done. 

The summit gain'd, behold the proud alcove 
That crowns it ! yet not all its pride secures 
The grand retreat from injuries impress'd 
By rural carvers, who with knives deface 
The panels, leaving an obscure, rude name, 
In characters uncouth, and spelt amiss. 
So strong the zeal t' immortalize himself 
Beats in the breast of man, that e'en a few, 
Few transient years, won from th' abyss ab 

horr'd 
Of blank oblivion, seem a glorious prize, 
A.nd even to a clown. Now roves the eye ; 
And, posted on this speculative height, 
Exults in its command. The sheepfold here 
Pours out its fleecy tenants o'er the glebe. 
At first, progressive as a stream, they seek 
The middle field ; but, scatter'd by degrees. 
Each to his choice, soon whiten all the land. 
There from the sunburnt hayfield homeward 

creeps 
The loaded wain ; while, lighten'd of its charge, 
The wain that meets it passes swiftly by; 
The boorish driver leaning o'er his team 
Vocif'rous, and impatient of delay. 



44 THE TASK. 

Nor less attractive is the woodland scene, 
Diversified with trees of ev'ry growth, 
Alike, yet various. Here the gray smooth trunks 
Of ash, or lime, or beech, distinctly shine. 
Within the twilight of their distant shades; 
There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood 
Seems sunk, and shorten'd to its topmost boughs. 
No tree in all the grove but has its charms. 
Though each its hue peculiar ; paler some, 
And of a wannish gray ; the willow such, 
And poplar, that with silver Hnes his leaf, 
And ash far-stretching his umbrageous arm ; 
Of deeper green the elm ; and deeper still, 
Lord of the woods, the long surviving oak. 
Some glossy leav'd, and shining in the sun, 
The maple and the beech of oily nuts 
Prolific, and the Hme at dewy eve 
Diffusing odours : nor unnoted pass 
The sycamore, capricious in attire, 
Now green, now tawny, and, ere autumn yet 
Have chang'd the woods, in scarlet honour/i 

bright. 
O'er those, but, far beyond (a spacious map 
Of hill and valley interpos'd between) 
The Ouse, dividing the well-water'd land, 
Now glitters in the sun, and now retires, 
As bashful, yet impatient to be seen. 
Hence the declivity is sharp and short, 
And such the reascent ; between them weeps 
A little naiad her impov'rish'd urn 
All summer long, which winter fills again. 
The folded gates would bar my progress now^ 



THE TASK. 45 

But that the lord* of this enclos'd demesne, 
Communicative of the good he owns 
Admits me to a share ; the guiltless eye 
Commits no wrong, nor wastes what it enjoys. 
Refreshing change ! where now the blazing sun ? 
By short transition we have lost his glare, 
And stepp'd at once into a cooler chme. 
Ye fallen avenues ! once more I mourn 
Your fate unmerited, once more rejoice 
That yet a remnant of your race survives. 
How airy and how light the graceful arch, 
Yet awfixl as the consecrated roof 
Re-echoing pious anthems! while beneath 
The checker' d earth seems restless as a flood 
Brdsh'd by the wind. So sportive is the light 
Shot through the boughs, it dances as they 

dance, 
Shadow and sunshine intermingling quick, 
And dark'ning, and enlight'ning, as the leaves 
Piay wanton, ev'ry moment, ev'ry spot. 
And now, with nerves new brac'd and spirits 

cheer'd, 
We tread the wilderness, whose well-roll' d 

walks. 
With curvature of slow and easy sweep — 
Deception innocent — give ample space 
To narrow bounds. The grove receives us 

next ; 
Between the upright shafts of whose tall elms 
We may discern the thresher at his task. 

♦ See the foregoing note. 



46 THE TASK. 

Thump after thump resounds the constant flail, 
That seems to swing uncertain, and yet falls 
Full on the destin'd ear. Wide flies the chaflT, 
The rustling straw sends up a frequent mist 
Of atoms, sparkling in the noonday beam. 
Come hither, ye that press your beds of down, 
And sleep not ; see him sweating o'er his bread 
Before he eats it. — 'T is the primal curse, 
But soften' d into mercy ; made the pledge 
Of cheerful days and nights without a groan. 

By ceaseless action all that is subsists. 
Constant rotation of th' unwearied wheel 
That Nature rides upon, maintains her health, 
Her beauty, her fertility. She dreads 
An instant's pause, and lives but while she 

moves : 
Its own revolvency upholds the World, 
Winds from all quarters agitate the air, 
And fit the Umpid element for use. 
Else noxious ; oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams. 
All feel the fresh'ning impulse, and are cleans'd 
By restless undulation : e'en the oak 
Thrives by the rude concussion of the storm: 
He seems indeed indignant, and to feel 
Th' impression of the blast with proud disdain. 
Frowning, as if in his unconscious arm 
He held the thunder : but the monarch owes 
His firm stability to what he scorns, 
More fix'd below, the more disturb'd above. 
The law, by which all creatures else are bound, 
Binds man, the Lord of all. Himself derives 
No mean advantage from a kindred cause, 



THE TASK. 47 

From strenuous toil his hours of sweetest ease. 
The sedentary stretch their lazy length 
When Custom bids, but no refreshment find. 
For none they need : the languid eye, the cheek 
Deserted of its bloom, the flaccid, shrunk, 
And wither'd muscle, and the vapid soul, 
Reproach their owner with that love of rest, 
To which he forfeits e'en the rest he loves. 
Not such the alert and active. Measure life 
By its true worth, the comforts it affords. 
And theirs alone seems worthy of the name. 
Good health, audits associate in the most, 
Good temper ; spirits prompt to undertake, 
And not soon spent, though in an arduous task ; 
The pow'rs of fancy and strong thought aie 

theirs ; 
E'en age itself seems privileg'd in them 
"With clear exemption from its own defects. 
A sparkling eye beneath a wrinkled front 
The vet'ran shows, and, gracing a gray beard 
With youthful smiles, descends towards the 

grave 
Sprightly, and old almost without decay. 

Like a coy maiden, Ease, when courted most, 
Furthest retires — an idol, at whose shrine 
Who oft'nest sacrifice are favour'd least. 
The love of Nature, and the scenes she drawSj 
Is nature's dictate. Strange ! there should be 

found. 
Who, self-imprison'd in their proud saloons, 
Renounce the odours of the open field 
For the unscented fictions of the loom j 



48 THE TASK. 

Who, satisfied with only pencill'd scenes, 

Prefer to the performance of a God 

Th' inferior wonders of an artist's hand ! 

Lovely indeed the mimic works of Art ; 

But Nature's works far loveUer. I admire, 

None more admires the painter's magic skill; 

Who shows me that which I shall never see, 

Conveys a distant country into mine, 

And throws Italian light on English walls: 

But imitative strokes can do no more 

Than please the eye — sweet Nature's ev'ry 

sense. 
The air salubrious of her lofty hills, 
The cheering fragrance of her dewy vales, 
And music of her woods — no works of man 
May rival these, these all bespeak apow'r 
Peculiar, and exclusively her own. 
Beneath the open sky she spreads the feast; 
'T is free to all — 't is ev'ry day renew' d ; 
Who scorns it starves deservedly at home. 
He does not scorn it, who, imprison'd long 
In some unwholesome dungeon, and a prey 
To sallow sickness, which the vapours, dank 
And clammy, of his dark abode have bred, 
Escapes at last to liberty and light : 
His cheek recovers soon its healthful hue ; 
His eye relumines its extinguish'd fires; 
He walks, he leaps, he runs — is wing'd with 

joy. 

And riots in the sweets of ev'ry breeze. 
He does not scorn it, who has long endur'd 
A fever's agonies, and fed on drugs. 



THE TASK. 49 

Nor yet the manner, his blood inflam'd 
With acrid salts ; his very heart athirst, 
To gaze at Nature in her green array, 
Upon the ship's tall side he stands, possess'd 
With visions prompted by intense desire ; 
Fair fields appear below, such as he left 
Far distant, such as he would die to find — 
He seeks them headlong, and is seen no more. 

''I'he spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns ; 
The low' ring eye, the petulance, the frown, 
And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort. 
And mar the face of Beauty, when no cause 
For such immeasurable wo appears, 
These Flora banishes, and gives the fair 
Sweet smiles, and bloom less transient than her 

own. 
It is the constant revolution, stale 
And tasteless, of the same repeated joys, 
That palls and satiates, and makes languid life 
A pedler's pack, that bows the bearer down. 
Health suffers, and the spirits ebb, the heart 
Recoils from its own choice — at the full feast 
Is famish' d- — finds no music in the song, 
No smartness in the jest ; and wonders why. 
Yet thousands still desire to journey on. 
Though halt, and weary of the path they tread. 
The paralytic, who can hold her cards. 
But cannot play them, borrows a friend's hand, 
To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort 
Her mingled suits and sequences ; and sits, 
Spectatress both and spectacle, a sad 

4 



50 THE TASK. 

And silent cypher, while her proxy plays. 
Others are dragg'd into a crowded room 
Between supporters ; and, once seated, sit. 
Through downright inability to rise, 
Till the stout bearers Kft the corpse again. 
These speak a loud memento. Yet e'en these 
Themselves love life, and cling to it, as lie 
That overhangs a torrent, to a twig. 
They love it, and yet loathe it ; fear to die. 
Yet scorn the purposes for which they live. 
Then wherefore not renounce them ? No — ^the 

dread, 
The slavish dread of solitu^Je, that breeds, 
Reflection and remorse, the fear of shame. 
And their invet'rate habits, all forbid. 

Whom call we gay ? That honour has been 
long 
The boast of mere pretenders to the name. 
The innocent are gay — the lark is gay, 
That dries his feathers, saturate with dew, 
Beneath the rosy cloud, while yet the beams 
Of day-spring overshoot his humble nest. 
The peasant too, a witness of his song, 
Himself a songster, is as gay as he. 

But save me from the gayety of those, 
"Whose headaches nail them to a noonday bed ; 
And save me too from theirs, whose haggard 

eyes 
Flash desperation, and betray their pangs 
For property stripp'd off by cruel chance ; 
From gayety, that fills the bones with pain, 
The mouth with blasphemy, the heart with wo. 



THE TASK. 51 

The earth was made so various, that the 

mind 
Of desultory man, studious of change, 
And pleas'd with novehy, might be indulg'd. 
Prospects, however lovely, may be. seen 
Till half their beauties fade : the weary sight 
Too well acquainted with their smiles, slides 

off, 
Fastidious, seeking less familiar scenes. 
Then snug enclosures in the shelter'd vale, 
Where frequent hedges intercept the eye, 
Delight us; happy to renounce awhile, 
Not senseless of its charms, what still we love, 
That such short absence may endear it more. 
Then forests, or the savage rock, may please, 
That hides the sea-mew in his hollow clefts 
Above the reach of man. His hoary head, 
Conspicuous many a league, the mariner 
Bound homeward, and in hope already there, 
Greets with three cheers exulting. At his 

waist 
A girdle of half-wither'd shrubs he shows, 
And at his feet the baffled billows die. 
The common, overgrown with fern, and rough 
With prickly gorse, that, shapeless and de- 

form'd. 
And dang'rous to the touch, has yet its bloom, 
And decks itself with ornaments of gold, 
Yields no unpleasing ramble ; there the turf 
Smells fresh, and, rich in odorif 'rous herbs 
And fungous fruits of earth, regales the sense 
With luxury of unexpected sweets. 



52 THE TASK. 

There often wanders one, whom better days 
Saw better clad, in cloak of satin trimm'd 
With lace, and hat with splendid riband bound, 
A serving maid was she, and fell in love 
With one who left her, went to sea, and died. 
Her fancy followed him through foaming waves 
To distant shores ; and she would sit and weep 
At what a sailor suffers ; fancy too, 
Delusive most where warmest wishes are, 
Would oft anticipate his glad return, 
And dream of transports she was not to know. 
She heard the doleful tidings of his death — 
And never smil'd again ! and now she roams 
The dreary waste ; there spends the livelong 

day, 
And there, unless when charity forbids, 
The Hvelong night. A tatter' d apron hides, 
Worn as a cloak, and hardly hides, a gown 
More tatter'd still ; and both but ill conceal 
A bosom heav'd with never-ceasing sighs. 
She begs an idle pin of all she meets, 
And hoards them in her sleeve ; but needful 

food. 
Though press'd with hunger oft, or comelier 

clothes. 
Though pinch' d with cold, asks never. — ^Kate is 

craz'd. 
I see a column of slow rising smoke 
O'ertop the lofty wood, that skirts the wild. 
A vagabond and useless tribe there eat 
Their miserable meal. A kettle, slung 
Between two poles upon a stick transverse, 



THE TASK. 53 

Receives the morsel — flesh obscene of dog, 
Or vermin, or at best of cock purloin'd 
From his accustom 'd perch. Hard faring race ! 
They pick their fuel out of ev'ry hedge, 
Which, kindled with dry leaves, just saves un- 

quench'd 
The spark of life. The sportive wind blows 

wide 
Their flutt'ring rags, and shows a tawny skin, 
The vellum of the pedigree they claim. 
Great skill have they in palmistry, and more 
To conjure clean away the gold they touch, 
Conveying worthless dross into its place ; 
Loud when they beg, dumb only when they 

steal. 
Strange ! that a creature rational, and cast 
In human mould, should brutalize by choice 
His nature ; and, though capable of arts, 
By which the world might profit, and himself 
Self-banish'd from society, prefer 
Such squalid sloth to honourable toil ! 
Yet even these, though feigning sickness oft 
They swathe the forehead, drag the limping 

limb, 
And vex their flesh with artificial sores, 
Can change their whine into a mirthful note, 
When safe occasion ofl'ers ; and with dance, 
And music of the bladder and the bag, 
Beguile their woes, and make the woods 

resound. 
Such health and gayety of heart enjoy 
The houseless rovers of the sylvan world ; 



54 THE TASK. 

And, breathing wholesome air, and wand'ring 

much, 
Need other physic none to heal th' effects 
Of loathsome diet, penury, and cold. 
Blest he, though undistinguish'd from the 

crowd 
By wealth or dignity, who dwells secure, 
Where man by nature fierce has laid aside 
His fierceness, having learnt, though slow to 

learn, 
The manners and the arts of civil life. 
His wants indeed are many ; but supply 
Is obvious, plac'd within the easy reach 
Of temp'rate wishes and industrious hands. 
Here virtue thrives as in her proper soil ; 
Not rude and surly, and beset with thorns, 
And terrible to sight, as when she springs, 
(If e'er she spring spontaneously,) in remote 
And barb'rous climes, where violence prevails, 
And strength is lord of all ; but gentle, kind, 
By culture tam'd, by liberty refreshed. 
And all her fruits by radiant truth matur'd. 
War and the chase engross the savage whole ; 
War follow' d for revenge or to supplant 
The envied tenants of some happier spot: 
The chase for sustenance, precarious trust ! 
His hard condition with severe constraint 
Binds all his faculties, forbids all growth 
Of wisdom, proves a school, in which he learns 
Sly circumvention, unrelenting hate. 
Mean self-attachment, and scarce aught beside. 
Thus fare the shiv'ring natives of the north, 



THE TASK. 55 

And thus the rangers of the western world, 
Where it advances far into the deep, 
Tow'rds the antarctic. E'en the favour'd isles 
So lately found, although the constant sun 
Cheer all their seasons with a grateful smile, 
Can boast but httle virtue ; and inert 
Through plenty, lose in morals what they gain 
In manners — victims of luxurious ease. 
These therefore I can pity, plac'd remote 
From all that science traces, art invents, 
Or inspiration teaches; and enclos'd 
In boundless oceans never to be pass'd. 
By navigators uninform'd as they, 
Or plough''d perhaps by British bark again. 
But far beyond the rest, and with most cause, 
Thee, gentle savage 1* whom no love of thee 
Or thine, but curiosity perhaps. 
Or else vain glory, promoted us to draw 
Forth from thy native bow'rs, to show thee here 
With what superior skill we can abuse 
The gifts of Providence, and squander life. 
The dream is past ; and thou hast found again 
Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams, 
And homestall thatch'd with leaves- But hast 

thou found 
Their former charms? And, having seen our 

state, 
Our palaces, our ladles, and our pomp 
Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports, 
And heard our music ; are thy simple friends, 

*Omai. 



56 THE TASK. 

Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delie^hts, 
As dear to thee as once? And have thy joys 
Lost nothmg by comparison with ours ? 
Rude as thou art, (for we return'd thee rude 
And ignorant, except of outward show,) 
I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart 
And spiritless, as never to regret 
Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known. 
Methinks I see thee straying on the beach, 
And asking of the surge that bathes thy foot, 
If ever it has wash'd our distant shore, 
I see thee weep, and thine are honest tears, 
A patriot's for his country : thou art sad 
At thought of her forlorn and abject state. 
From which no pow'r of thine can raise her up. 
Thus fancy paints thee, and, though apt to err. 
Perhaps errs little, when she paints thee thus. 
She tells me too, that duly ev'ry morn 
Thou climb'st the mountain top, with eager eye 
Exploring far and wide the wat'ry waste 
For sight of ship from England. Ev'ry speck 
Seen in the dim horizon turns thee pale 
With conflict of contending hopes and fears. 
But comes at last the dull and dusky eve, 
And sends thee to thy cabin, well prepar'd 
To dream all night of what the day denied. 
Alas ! expect it not. We found no bait 
To tempt us in thy country. Doing good. 
Disinterested good, is not our trade. 
We travel far, 'tis true, but not for nought ; 
And must be brib'd to compass Earth again 
By other hopes and richer fruits than yours. 



THE TASK. ^ 

But thongh true worth and virtue in the mild 
And genial soil of cultivated life 
Thrive most, and may perhaps thrive only there, 
Yet not in cities oft : in proud, and gay, 
And gain-devoted cities. Thither flow, 
As to a common and most noisome sewer, 
The dregs and feculence of every land. 
In cities, foul example on most minds 
Begets its likeness. Rank abundance breeds, 
In gross and pamper'd cities, sloth, and lust. 
And wantonness, and gluttonous excess. 
In cities, vice is hidden with most ease, 
Or seen with least reproach ; and virtue, taught 
By frequent lapse, can hope no triumph there 
Beyond th' achievement of successful flight. 
I do confess them nurseries of the arts, 
In which they flourish most ; where in the 

beams 
Of warm encouragement, and in the eye 
Of pubUc note, they reach their perfect size. 
Such London is, by taste and wealth proclaimed 
The fairest capital of all the world, 
By riot and Incontinence the worst. 
There touch' d by Reynolds, a dull blank 

becomes 
A lucid mirror, in which Nature sees 
All her reflected features. Bacon there 
Gives more than female beauty to a stone, 
And Chatham's eloquence to marble hps. 
Nor does the chisel occupy alone 
The pow'rs of sculpture, but the style as much; 
Each province of her art her equal care. 



58 THE TASK. 

With nice incision of her guided steel 
She ploughs a brazen field, and clothes a soil 
So sterile with what charms soe'er she will, 
The richest scenery and the loveliest forms. 
Where finds Philosophy her eagle eye, 
With which she gazes at yon burning disk 
Undazzled, and detects and counts his spots? 
Ill London. Where her implements exact, 
With which she calculates, computes and scans. 
All distance, motion, magnitude, and now 
Measures an atom, and now girds a world ? 
In London. Where has commerce such a marl. 
So rich, so throng'd, so drain' d, and so sup 

plied, 
As London — opulent, enlarg'd, and still 
Increasing London ? Babylon of old 
Not more the glory of the Earth, than she, 
A more accomplish'd world's chief glory now. 
She has her praise. Now mark a spot or 

two, 
That so much beauty would do well to purge ; 
And show this queen of cities, that so fair, 
May yet be foul ; so witty, yet not wise. 
It is not seemly, nor of good report, 
That she is slack in disciphne ; more prompt 
T' avenge than to prevent the breach of law : 
That she is rigid in denouncing death 
On petty robbers, and indulges life. 
And liberty, and ofttimes honour too, 
To peculators of the public gold : 
That thieves at home must hang ; but he that 

puis 



Into his overgovg'd and bloated purse 
The weahh oC Indian provinces, escapes. 
Nor is it well, nor can it come to good, 
That, through profane and infidel contempt 
Of holy writ, she haspresum'd t' annul 
And abrogate, as roundly as she may, 
The total ordinance and will of God ; 
Advancing Fashion to the post of Truth, 
And centring all authorhy in modes 
And customs of her own, till sabbath rites 
Have dwindled into unrespected forms. 
And knees and hassacks are well-nigh divorc'd. 
God made the country, and man made the 
town. 
What wonder then that health and virtue, gifts 
That can alone make sweet the bitter draught 
That life holds out to all, should most abound 
And least be threaten'd in the fields and 

groves ? 
Possess ye, therefore, ye who, borne about 
In chariots and sedans, know no fatigue 
But that of idleness, and taste no scenes 
But such as art contrives, possess ye still 
Your element, there only can ye shine ; 
There only minds like yours can do no harm. 
Our groves were planted to console at noon 
The pensive wand'rer in their shades. At eve 
The moon-beam, sliding softly in between 
The sleeping leaves, is all the light they wish, 
Birds warbling all the music. We can spare 
The splendour of your lamps ; they but eclipse 
Cur softer satellite. Your songs confound 



60 THE TASK. 

Our more harmonious notes: the thrush de- 
parts 
Scar'd, and th' offended nightingale is mute. 
Their is a public mischief in your mirth : 
It plagues your country. Folly such as yours, 
Grac'd with a sword, and worthier of a fan. 
Has made, what enemies could ne'er have 

done. 
Our arch of empire, steadfast but for you, 
A mutilated structure soon to fall. 



THE TASK, 

BOOK n. 



THE TIME-PIECE. 



ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND BOOK. 

Beflectione suggested by the conclusion of the former boolc 
— Peace among the nations recommended on the ground 
of their common fellowsliip in sorrow— Prodigies enu- 
merated—Sicilian earthquakes— Man rendered obnox- 
ious to these calamities by sin— God the agent in them— 
The philosophy that stops at secondary causes reproved 
— Ourown late miscarriages accounted for— Satirical no- 
lice taken of our trips to Fontainbleau— But the pulpit, 
not satire, the proper engine of reformation— The Ke- 
verend Advertiser of engraved sermons— Petit-maitre 
parson — The good preacher— Picture of a theatrical cleri- 
cal coxcomb— Story-tellers and jesters in the pulpit re- 
proved—Apostrophe to popular applause— Retailers of 
ancient philosophy expostulated with— Sum of the whole 
matter— Effects of sacerdotal mismanagement on the 
laity— Their folly and extravagance— The mischiefs 
of profusion— Profusion itself, with all its consequent 
evils, ascribed, as to its principal cause, to the want of 
discipline in the universities. 

61 



62 THE TASK. 

FOR a lodge in some vast wilderness, 
Some boundless contiguity of shade, 
Where rumor of oppression and deceit, 
Of unsuccessful or successful war, 

Might never reach me more ! My ear is pain'd, 
My soul is sick with ev'ry day's report 
Of wrong and outrage with which earth is fill'd. 
There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart; 
It does not feel for man ; the natural bond 
Of brotherhood is sever'd, as the flax, 
That falls asunder at the touch of fire. 
Ke finds his fellow guilty of a skin 
Not colour' d like his own ; and having pow'r 
T' enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause 
Dooms and devotes him as a lawful prey. 
Lands intersected by a narrow frith 
Abhor each other. Mountains interpos'd 
Make enemies of nations, who had else 
Like kindred drops been mingled into one. 
Thus man devotes his brother, and destroys ; 
And worse than all, and most to be deplor'd, 
As human nature's broadest, foulest blot, 
Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat 
With stripes, that Mercy with a bleeding heart, 
Weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast. 
Then what is man ? And what man, seeing this, 
And having human feelings, does not blush, 
And hang his head, to think himself a man? 

1 would not have a slave to till my ground, 
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep. 

And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth 
That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd. 



No : dear as freedom is, and in my heart's 
Just estimation priz'd above all price, 
I had much rather be myself the slave, 
And vt^ear the bonds, than fasten them on him. 
We have no slaves at home. — Then why abroad ? 
And they themselves, once ferried o'er the wave 
That parts us, are emancipate and loos'd. 
Slaves cannot breathe in England ; if their lungs 
Receive our air, that moment they are free ; 
They touch our country, and their shackles fall. 
That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud 
And jealous of the blessing. Spread it, then, 
And let it circulate through ev'ry vein 
Of all your empire : that, where Britain's pow'r 
Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too. 
Sure there is need of social intercourse, 
Benevolence, and peace, and mutual aid, 
Between the nations, in a world that seems 
To toll the death-bell of its own disease, 
And by the voice of all its elements 
To preach the gen'ral doom.* When were the 

winds 
Let slip with such a warrant to destroy ? 
When did the waves so haughtily o'erleap 
Their ancient barriers, deluging the dry ? 
Fires from beneath, and meteorst from above. 
Portentous, unexampled, unexplain'd 
Have kindled beacons in the skies; and th' old 
And crazy Earth has had her shaking fits 

* Alluding to the calamities in Jamaica. 
t August, Is, 1783. 



64 THE TASK". 

More frequent, and foregone her usual rest. 
Is it a time to wrangle, when the props 
And pillars of our planet seem to fail, 
And Nature with a dim and sickly eye* 
To wait the close of ail ? But grant her end 
More distant, and that prophecy demands 
A longer respite, unaccomplish'd yet; 
Still they are frowning signals, and bespeak 
Displeasure in his breast who smites the Earth 
Or heals it, makes it languish or rejoice. 
And 'lis but seemly, that, where all deserve 
And stand expos'd by common peccancy 
To what no few have felt, there should be peace, 
And brethren in calamity should love. 
Alas for Sicily ! rude fragments now 
Lie scatter'd, where the shapely columns stood. 
Her palaces are dust. In all her streets 
The voice of singing and the sprightly chord 
Are silent. Revelry, and dance, and show, 
Suffer a syncope and solemn pause; 
While God performs upon the trembling stage 
Of his own works his dreadful part alone. 
How does the earth receive him ? with what signs 
Of gratulation and delight her king ? 
Pours she not all her choicest fruits abroad, 
Her sweetest flow'rs, her aromatick gums, 
Disclosing Paradise where'er he treads? 
She quakes at his approach. Her hollow womb, 
Conceiving thunders, through a thousand deeps 

• Alluding to the fog that covered both Europe and Asia 
during the whole summer of 1783. 



THE TASK. 65 

And fiery caverns roars beneath his foot. 

The hills move lightly, and the mountains smoke, 

For he has touch' d them. From th' extremest 

point 
Of elevation down into the abyss 
His wrath is busy, and his frown is felt. 
The rocks fall headlong, and the valleys rise, 
The rivers die into offensive pools. 
And, charg'd with putrid verdure, breathe a gross 
And mortal nuisance into all the air. 
What solid was, by transformation strange. 
Grows fluid ; and the fix'd and rooted earth, 
Tormented into billows, heaves and swells, 
Or with vertiginous and hideous whirl 
Sucks down its prey insatiable. Immense 
The tumult and the overthrow, the pangs 
And agonies of human and of brute 
Multitudes, fugitive on ev'ry side. 
And fugitive in vain. The sylvan scene 
Migrates uphfted : and, with all its soil 
Alighting in far distant fields, finds out 
A new possessor, and survives the change. 
Ocean has caught the frenzy, and, upwrought 
To an enormous and o'erbearing height, 
Not by a mighty wind, but by that voice 
Which winds and waves obey, invades the shorp 
Resistless. Never such a sudden flood, 
Upridg'd so high, and sent on such a charge, 
Possess' d an inland scene. Where now the 

throng 
That press'd the beach, and, hasty to depart, 
Look'd to the sea for safety ? They are gone, 



V THE TASK. 

Gone with the refluent wave into the deep — 
A prince with half his people ! Ancient tow'rs, 
And roofs embattled high, the gloomy scenes 
Where beauty oft and letter'd worth consume 
Life in the unproductive shades of death, 
Fall prone : the pale inhabitants come forth. 
And, happy in their unforeseen release 
From all the rigours of restraint, enioy 
The terrours of the day that sets the\.ix free. 
Who, then, that has thee, would not hold thee 

fast 
Freedom ! whom they that lose thee so regret, 
That e'en a judgment, making way for thee, 
Seems in their eyes a mercy for thy sake ? 
Such evil Sin hath wrought ; and such a flame 
Kindled in Ilcav'n, that it burns down to Earth, 
And in the furious inquest that it makes 
On God's behalf, lays waste his fairest works. 
The very elements, though each be meant 
The minister of man, to serve his wants, 
Conspire against him. With his breath he draws 
A plague into his blood ; and cannot use 
Life's necessary means, but he must die. 
Storms rise t' o'erwhelm him ; or if stormy winda 
Rise not, the waters of the deep shall rise, 
And, needing none assistance of the storm, 
Shall roll themselves ashore, and reach him thered 
The earth shall shake him out of all his holds, 
Or make his house his grave : nor so content, 
Shall counterfeit the motions of the flood, 
And drown him in her dry and dusty gulfs. 
4^hat then !— were they the wicked above all, 



THE TASK. 67- 

And we the righteous, whose fast-anchor*d isle 
Mov'd not, while theirs was rock,d, hke a hght 

skiff, 
The sport of every wave ? No ; none are clear, 
And none than we more guiUy. But, where all 
Stand chargeable with guilt, and to the shafts 
Of wrath obnoxious, God may choose his mark : 
May punish, if he please, the less, to warn 
The more malignant. If he spar'd not them, 
Tremble and be amaz'd at thine escape, 
Far guiltier England, lest he spare not thee ! 
Happy the man, who sees a God employ'd 
In all the good and ill that checker hfe ! 
Resolving all events, with their effects 
And manifold results, into the will 
And arbitration wise of the Supreme. 
Did not his eye rule all things, and intend 
The least of our concerns ; (since from the least 
The greatest oft originate ;) could chance 
Find place in his dominion, or dispose 
One lawless particle to thwart his plan ; 
Then God might be surpris'd, and unforeseen 
Contingence might alarm him, and disturb 
The smooth and equal course of his affairs. 
This true Philosophy, though eagle-ey'd 
In nature's tendencies, oft overlooks ; 
And, having found his instrument, forgets, 
Or disregards, or, more presumptuous still, 
Denies the power that wields it. God proclaims 
His hot displeasure against foohsh men. 
That live an atheist life ; involves the Heavens 
In tempests ; quits his grasp upon the winds, 



68 THE TASK. 

And gives them all their fury ; bids a plague 
Kindle a fiery bile upon the skin, 
And putrefy the breath of blooming Health. 
He calls for Famine, and the meagre fiend 
Blows mildew from between his shrivell'd lips, 
And taints the golden ear. He springs his mines, 
And desolates a nation at a blast. 
Forth steps the spruce Philosopher, and tells 
Of homogeneal and discordant springs, 
And principles; of causes how they work 
By necessary laws their sure effects 
Of action and reaction : he has found 
The source of the disease that nature feels, 
And bids the world take heart and banish fear. 
Thou fool ? will thy discov'ry of the cause 
Suspend th' effect, or heal it ? Has not God 
Still wrought by means since first he made the 

world ? 
And did he not of old employ his means 
To drown it ? What is his creation less, 
Than a capacious reservoir of means, 
Form'd for his use, and ready at his will ? 
Go, dress thine eyes with eye-salve ; ask of Him 
Or ask of whomesoever he has taught ; 
And learn, though late, the genuine cause of all. 
England, with all thy faults, I love thee still — 
My country ! and while yet a nook is left, 
Where English minds and manners may be 

fsund, 
Shall be constrain' d to love thee. Though thy 

clime 
Be fickle, and thy year most part deform'd 



THE TASK. 69 

With dripping rains, or wither'd by a frost, 
I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies. 
And fields without a flow'r, for warmer France 
With all her vines : nor for Ausonia's groves 
Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bow'rs. 
To shake thy senate, and from heights sublime 
Of patriot eloquence to flash down fire 
Upon thy foes, was never meant my task : 
But I can feel thy fortunes, and partake 
Thy joys and sorrows, with as true a heart 
As any thund'rer there. And I can feel 
Thy follies too ; and with a just disdain 
Frown at efleminates, whose very looks 
Reflect dishonour on the land I love. 
How in the name of soldiership and sense, 
Should England prosper, when such things, as 

smooth 
And tender as a girl, all essenc'd o'er 
With odours, and as profligate as sweet ; 
Who sell their laurel for a myrtle wreath, 
And love when they should fight : when such 

as these 
Presume to lay their hand upon the ark 
Of her magnificent and awful cause ; 
Time was when it was praise and boast enough 
In every clime, and travel where we might, 
That we were born her children. Praise enough 
Th fill th' ambition of a private man 
ThatChatham's language was his mother-tongue. 
And Wolfs great name compatriot with his own. 
Farewell those honours, and farewell with them 
The hope of such hereafter ! They have fall'n 



70 THE TASK. 

Each in his field of glory ; one in arms. 

And one in council — Wolfe upon the lap 

Of smiling Victory that moment won, 

And Chatham heart-sick of his country's shame ! 

They made us many soldiers. Chatham, still 

Consulting England's happiness at home, 

Secur'd it by an unforgiving frown. 

If any wrong'd her. Wolfe, where'er he fought, 

Put so much of his heart into his act, 

That his example had a magnet's force, 

And all were swift to follow whom all lov'd. 

Those suns are set. O rise some other such ! 

Or all that we have left is empty talk 

Of old achievements and despair of new. 

Now hoist the sail, and let the streamers float 
Upon the wanton breezes. Strew the deck 
With lavender, and sprinkle liquid sweets, 
That no rude savour maritime invade 
The nose of nice nobility ! Breathe soft, 
Ye clarionets ; and softer still, ye flutes; 
^ hat winds and waters, luU'd by magick sounds 
May bear us smoothly to the GaUic shore. 
True, we have lost an empire — let it pass. 
True, we may thank the perfidy of France, 
That pick'd the jewel out of England's crown, 
With all the cunning of an envious shrew. 
And let that pass — 'twas but a trick of state — ■ 
A brave man knows no malice, but at once 
Forgets in peace the injuries of war. 
And gives his direst foe a friend's embrace. 
And sham'd as we have been, to th' very beard 
Brav'd and defied, and in our own sea prov'd 



THE TASK. 71 

Too weak for those decisive blows that once 
Ensur'd us mast'ry there, we yet retain 
Some small pre-eminence ; we justly boast 
At least superiour jockeyship, and claim 
The honours of the turf as all our own ! 
Go, then, well worthy of the praise ye seek. 
And show the shame ye might conceal at home, 
In foreign eyes ! — be grooms and win the plate. 
Where once your nobler fathers won a crown !— 
'Tis gen'rous to communicate your skill 
To those that need it. Folly is soon learn'd : 
And under such preceptors who can fail ? 

There is a pleasure in poetick pains, 
Which only poets know. The shifts and turns, 
Th' expedients and inventions multiform, 
To which the mind resorts, in chase of terms. 
Though apt, yet coy, and difficult to win — 
T' arrest the fleeting images, that fill 
The mirror of the mind, and hold them fast, 
And force them sit, till he has pencil'd off 
A faithful likeness of the forms he views; 
Then to dispose his copies with such art, 
That each may find its most propitious light, 
And shine by situation, hardly less 
Than by the labour and the skill it cost ; 
Are occupations of the poet's mind 
So pleasing, and that steal away the thought, 
With such address from themes of sad import. 
That, lost in his own musings, happy man ! 
He feels the anxieties of life denied 
Their wonted entertainment ; all retire. 
Such joys has he that sings. But ah ! not such, 



72 THE TASK. 

Or seldom such, the hearers of his song. 
Fastidious, or else listless, or perhaps 
Aware of nothing arduous in a task. 
They never undertook, they little note 
His dangers or escapes, and haply find 
Their least amusement where he found the most. 
But is amusement all ? Studious of song, 
And yet ambitious not to sing in vain, 
I would not trifle merely, though the world 
Be loudest in their praise who do no more. 
Yet what can satire, whether grave or gay ? 
It may correct a foible, may chastise 
The freaks of fashion, regulate the dress, 
Retrench a sword-blade, or displace a patch , 
But where are its sublimer trophies found ? 
What vice has it subdued ? whose heart reclaim'd 
By rigour, or whom laugh' d into reform ? 
Alas I Leviathan is not so tam'd: 
Laugh'd at, he laughs again ; and stricken hard, 
Turns to the stroke his adamantine scales, 
That fear no discipline of human hands. 

The pulpit, therefore — (and I name it fill'd 
With solemn awe, that bids me well beware 
With what intent I touch that holy thing) — 
The pulpit — (when the sat'rist has at last, , 
Strutting and vap'ring in an empty school, 
Spent all his force, and made no proselyte)— 
I say the pulpit (in the sober use 
Of its legitimate peculiar pow'rs) 
Must stand acknowledg'd, while the world shall 

stand. 
The most important and effectual guard, 



THE TASK 73 

Support, and ornament, of Virtue's cause. 
There stands the messenger of truth; there 

stands 
The legate of the skies !— rHis theme divine, 
His office sacred, his credentials clear. 
By him the violated law speaks out 
Its thunders : and by him, in strains as sv/eet 
As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace. 
He 'stablishes the strong, restores the weak, 
Reclaims the wand'rer, binds the broken heart. 
And, arm'd himself in panoply complete 
Of heav'nly temper, furnishes with arms 
Bright as his own, and trains, by every rule 
Of holy disciphne, to glorious war 
The sacramental host of God's elect : 
Are all such teachers? — would to Heav'n all 

were ! 
But hark — the doctor's voice ! — fast wedg'd be- 
tween 
Two empiricks he stands, and with swoln cheeks 
Inspires the news, his trumpet. Keener far 
Than all invective is his bold harangue, 
"While through that publick organ of report 
He hails the clergy ; and, defying shame. 
Announces to the world his own and theirs! 
He teaches those to read whom schools dismiss'd, 
And colleges, untaught : sells accent, tone, 
And emphasis in score, and gives to pray'r 
Th' adagio and andante it demands. 
He grinds divinity of other days 
Down into modern use ; transforms old print 
To zigzag manuscript, and cheats the eyes 



74 THE TASK. 

Of gall'ry critics by a thousand arts. 

Are there who purchase of the doctor's ware ? 

O, name it not in Gath ! — it cannot be, 

That grave and learned clerks should need such 

aid. 
He doubtless is in sport, and does but droll, 
Assuming thus a rank unknown before — 
Grand caterer and dry-nurse of the church ! • 
I venerate the man, whose heart is warm, 
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and 

whose life, 
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof 
That he is honest in the sacred cause. 
To such I render more than mere respect, 
W hose actions say that they respect themselves. 
But loose in morals and in manners vain, 
In conversation frivolous, in dress 
Extreme at once rapacious and profuse ; 
Frequent in park with lady at his side, 
Ambling and prattling scandal as he goes ; 
But rare at home, and never at his books, 
Or with his pen, save when he scrawls a card; 
Constant at routs, familiar with a round 
Of ladyships, a stranger to the poor ; 
Ambitious of preferment for its gold. 
And well prepar'd by ignorance and sloth, 
By infideUty and love of world. 
To make God's work a sinecure ; a slave 
To his own pleasures and his patron's pride ; 
From such apostles, O ye mitred heads, 
Preserve the church ! and lay not careless handa 
On skulls that cannot teach, and will not learn. 



THE TASK. 75 

Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul, 
Were he on Earth, would hear, approve, and 

own, 
Paul should himself direct me. I would trace 
His master-strokes, and draw from his design. 
I would express him simple, grave, sincere ; 
In doctrine uncorrupt ; in language plain, 
And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste, 
And natural in gesture ; much impress' d 
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
May feel it too ; affectionate in look. 
And tender in address, as well becomes 
A messenger of grace to guilty men. 
Behold the picture ! — Is it like ? — Like whom ? 
The things that mount the rostrum with a skip, 
And then skip down again ? pronounce a text ? 
Cry — hem ; and, reading what they never wrote 
Just fifteen minutes, huddle up their work, 
And with a well bred whisper close the scene ! 

In man or woman, but far most in man 
And most of all in man that ministers 
And serves the altar, in my soul I loathe 
All afTectation. 'Tis my perfect scorn ; 
Object of my implacable disgust. 
What ! — will a man play tricks — will he indulge 
A silly fond conceit of his fair form, 
And just proportion, fashionable mein, 
And pretty face, in presence of his God ? 
Or will he seek to dazzle me with tropes. 
As with the diamond on his lily hand. 
And play his brilliant parts before my eyea, 



76 THE TASK. 

When I am hungry for the bread of Hfe ? 
He mocks his Maker, prostitutes and shames 
His noble office, and, instead of truth, 
Displaying his own beauty, starves his flock. 
Therefore avaunt all attitude and stare, 
And start theatrick, practis'd at the glass! 
I seek divine simplicity in him 
Who handles things divine ; and all besides, 
Though learn'd with labour, and though much 

admir'd 
By curious eyes and judgment ill-inform'd, 
To me is odious as the nasal twang 
Heard at conventicle where worthy men, 
Misled by custom, strain celestial themes 
Through the press'd nostril, spectacle-bestrid. 
Some, decent in demeanour while they preach, 
That task perform'd, relapse into themselves) 
And, having spoken wisely, at the close 
Grow wanton, and give proof to ev'ry eye, 
Whoe'er was edify'd, themselves were not I 
Forth comes the pocket-mirror. First we stroke 
An eyebrow ; next compose a straggling lock, 
Then with an air most gracefully perform'd, 
Fall back into our seat, extend an arm, 
And lay it at its ease with gentle care, 
With handkerchief in hand depending low ; 
The better hand more busy gives the nose 
Its bergamot, or aids th' indebted eye 
With op'ra glass, to watch the moving scene, 
And recognize the slow retiring fair. — • 
Now this is fulsome ; and offends me more 
Than in a churchman slovenly neglect 



THE TASK. 77 

And rustic coarseness would. A heavenly mind 
May be indifl''rent to her house of clay, 
And shght the hovel as beneath her care ; 
But how a body so fantastic, trim, 
And quaint, in its deportment and attire, 
Can lodge a heav'nly mind — demands a doubt. 

He that negotiates between God and man, 
As God's ambassador, the grand concerns 
Of judgment and of mercy, should beware 
Of lightness in his speech, 'Tis pitiful 
To court a grin, when you should woo a soul : 
To break a jest, when pity would inspire 
Patheiick exhortation ; and t' address 
The skittish fancy with facetious tales. 
When sent with God's commission to the heart ! 
So did not Paul. Direct me to a quip 
Or merry turn in all he ever wrote, 
And I consent you take it for your text, 
Your only one, till sides and benches fail. 
No: he was serious in a serious cause, 
And understood t<JO well the weighty terms, 
That he had ta'en in charge. He would not 

stoop 
To conquer thoso by jocular exploits, 
"Whom truth and soberness assail'd in vain. 

O Popular Applause! what heart of man 
Is proof against tnv sweet seducing charms ? 
The wisest and tide best feel urgent need 
Of all their cautum in thy gentlest gales ; 
But swell'd into :t gust — who, then, alas ! 
With all his canvass set, and inexpert. 
And therefore heedless, can withstand thy pow'r? 



78 THE TASK. 

Praise from the rivell'd lips of toothless, bald 
Decrepitude, and in the looks of lean 
And craving Poverty, and in the bow 
Respectful of the smutch'd artificer, 
Is oft too welcome and may much disturb 
The bias of the purpose. How much more, 
Pour'd forth by beauty splendid and polite, 
In language soft as Adoration breathes ? 
Ah, spare your idol, think him human still. 
Charms he may have, but he has frailties too ! 
Dote not too much nor spoil what ye admire. 

All truth is from the sempiternal source 
Of hght divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome, 
Drew from the stream below. More favor'd, we 
Drink when we choose it, at the fountain head. 
To them it flow'd much mingled and defil'd 
With hurtful errour, prejudice, and dreams 
Illusive of philosophy, so call'd, 
But falsely. Sages after sages strove 
In vain to filter off a crystal draught 
Pure from the lees, which often more enhanc'd 
The thirst than slak'd it, and not seldom bred 
Intoxication and delirium wild. 
In vain they push'd inquiry to the birth 
And spring time of the world ; ask'd, Whence 

is man ? 
Why form'd at all ? and wherefore as he is ? 
Where must he find his maker ? with what rites 
Adore him ? Will he hear, accept, and bless ? 
Or does he sit regardless of his works ? 
Has man within him an immortal seed ? 
Or does the tomb take all ? If he survive 



THE TASK. 



79 



His ashes, where ? and in what weal or wo ? 

Knots worthy of solution, which alone 

A Deity could solve. Their answers, vague 

And all at random, fabulous and dark. 

Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of 

life 
Defective and unsanction'd, prov'd too weak 
To bind the roving appetite, and lead 
Blind nature to a God not yet reveal' d. 
'Tis Revelation satisfies all doubts. 
Explains all mysteries, except her own, 
And so illuminates the path of life 
That fools discover it, and stray no more. 
Now tell me, dignified and sapient sir. 
My man of morals, nutur'd in the shades 
Of Academus — is this false or true ? 
Is Christ the abler teacher or the schools? 
If Christ, then why resort at ev'ry turn 
To Athens, or to Rome, for wisdom short 
Of man's occasions, when in him reside 
Grace, knowledge, comfort, an unfathom'd store? 
How oft, when Paul has serv'd us with a text, 
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully, preach'd ! 
Men that, if now alive, would sit content 
And humble learners of a Saviour's worth, 
Preach it who might. Such was their love of 

truth, 
Their thirst of knowledge, and their candour too. 

And thus it is. — The pastor, either vain 
By nature, or by flatt'ry made so, taught 
To gaze at his own splendour, and t' exalt 
Absurdly, not his office, but himself; 



80 THE TASK. 

Or unenlighten'd and too proud to learn ; 

Or vicious, and not therefore apt to teach ; 

Perverting often by the stress of lewd 

And loose example, whom he should instruct; 

Exposes, and holds up to broad disgrace, 

The noblest function, and discredits much 

The brightest truths that man has ever seen. 

For ghostly counsel ; if it either fall 

Below the exigence, or be not back'd 

With show of love, at least with hopeful proof 

Of some sincerity on the giver's part ; 

Or be dishonour' d in th' exteriour form 

And mode of its conveyance, by such tricks 

As move derision, or by foppish airs 

And histrionick. mumm'ry that let down 

The pulpit to the level of the stage ; 

Drops from the lips a disregarded thing. 

The weak perhaps are mov'd, but are not 

taught, 
While prejudice in men of stronger minds 
Takes deeper root, confirm'd by what they see. 
A relaxation of religion's hold 
Upon the roving and untutor'd heart 
Soon follows, and, the curb of conscience snapp'd 
The laity run wild. But do they now ? 
Note their extravagance, and be convinc'd. 

As nations, ignorant of God, contrive 
A wooden one : so we, no longer taught 
By monitors, that mother church supplies, 
Now make our own. Posterity will ask, 
(If e'er posterity see verse of mine.) 
Some fifty or a hundred lustrums hence, 



THE TASK. 81 

What was a monitor in George's Jays ? 
My very gentle reader, yet unborn, 
Of whom I needs must augur better things, 
Since Heav'n would sure grow weary of a world 
Productive only of a race hke ours, 
A monitor is wood — plank shaven thin. 
We wear it at our backs. There, closely brac'd 
And neatly fitted, it compresses hard 
The prominent and most unsightly bones, 
And binds the shoulder flat. We prove its use 
Sov'reign and most effectual to secure 
A form, not now gymnastick as of yore, 
From rickets, and distortion, else our lot. 
But thus admonish'd, we can walk erect — 
One proof at least of manhood! while the friend 
Sticks close, a Mentor worthy of his charge. 
Our habits, costlier than Lucullus wore, 
And by caprice as multipUed as his, 
Just please us while the fashion is at full, 
But change with ev'ry moon. The sycophant, 
Who waits to dress us, arbitrates their date ; 
Surveys his fair reversion with keen eye ; 
Finds one ill made, another obsolete, 
This fits not nicely, that is ill conceiv'd; 
And, making prize of all that he condemns, 
With our expenditure defrays his own. 
Variety's the very spice of life, 
That gives it all its flavour. We have run 
Through ev'ry change, that Fancy at the loom 
Exhausted, has had genius to supply ; 
And studious of mutation still, discard 
A real elegance, a little us'd, 
6 



^4»* 



For monstrous novelty and strange disguise. 

We sacrifice to dress, till household joys 

And comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar 

dry, 
And keeps our larder lean ; puts out our fires ; 
And introduces hunger, frost, and wo. 
Where peace and hospitality might reign. 
What man that lives, and that knows how to 

live, 
Would fail t' exhibit at the public shows 
A form as splendid as the proudest there, 
Though appetite raise outcries at the cost ? 
A man o' th' town dines late, but soon enough, 
With reasonable forecast and despatch, 
T' insure a side box station at half price. 
You think, perhaps, so dehcate his dress, 
His daily fare as delicate. Alas ! 
He picks clean teeth, and, busy as he seems 
With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet ! 
The rout is Folly's circle, which she draws 
With magick wand. So potent is the spell, 
That none, decoy'd into that fatal ring, 
Unless by Heav 'n's peculiar grace, escape. 
There we grow early gray, but never wise ; 
There form connexions, but acquire no friend; 
Solicit pleasure hopeless of success ; 
Waste youth in occupations only fit 
For second childhood, and devote old age 
To sports, which only childhood could excuse. 
There, they are happiest who dissemble best 
Their weariness ; and they the most polite 
Who squander lime and treasure with a smile, 



THE TASK. 83 

Though at their own destruction. She that asks 
Her dear five hundred friends, contemns them 

all, 
And hates their coming. They (what can they 

less ?) 
Make just reprisals ; and with cringe and shrug, 
And bow obsequious, hide their hate of her. 
All catch the frenzy, downward from her grace, 
Whose flambeaux flash against the morning 

skies, 
And gild our chamber ceilings as they pass, 
To her, who, frugal only that her thrift 
May feed excesses she can ill afford. 
Is hackney' d home unlackey'd ; who, in haste 
Alighting, turns the key in her own door, 
And, at the watchman's lantern borrowing light. 
Finds a cold bed her only comfort left. 
Wives beggar husbands, husbands starve their 

wives. 
On fortune's velvet altar off"' ring up 
Their last poor pittance — Fortune, most severe 
Of goddesses yet known, and costlier far 
Than all that held their routs in Juno's Heav'n.— 
So fare we in this prison-house, the World ; 
And 'tis a fearful spectacle to see 
So many maniacks dancing in their chains. 
They gaze upon the links, that hold them fast, 
With eyes of anguish, execrate their lot, 
Then shake them in despair, and dance again ! 

Now basket up the family of plagues, 
That waste our vitals ; peculation, sale 
Of honour, perjury, corruption, frauds 



84 THE TASK. 

By forgery, by subterfuge of law, 
By tricks and lies as num'rous and as keen 
As the necessities their authors feel : 
Then cast them, closely bundled, ev'ry brat 
At the right door. Profusion is the sire. • 
Profusion unrestrain'd with all that's base 
In character, has litter'd all the land, 
And bred, within the mem'ry of no few, 
A priesthood, such as Baal's was of old, 
A people, such as never was till now. 
It is a hungry vice : — it eats up all 
That gives society its beauty, strength, 
Convenience, security, and use : 
Makes men mere vermin, worthy to be trapp'd 
And gibbeted, as fast as catchpole claws 
Can seize the slippery prey : unties the knot 
Of union, and converts the sacred band 
That holds mankind together, to a scourge. 
Profusion deluging a state M'ith lusts 
Of grossest nature and of worst effects. 
Prepares it for its ruin : hardens, blinds. 
And warps, the consciences of publick men, 
Till they can laugh at Virtue ; mock the fools 
That trust them ; and in th' end disclose a face, 
That would have shock' d Credulity herself 
Unmask'd, vouchsafing this their sole excuse — 
Since all alike are selfish, why not they ? 
This does Profusion, and th' accursed cause 
Of such deep mischief has itself a cause. 

In colleges and halls in ancient days. 
When learning, virtue, piety and truth. 
Were precious and inculcated with care, 



THE TASK. 85 

There dwelt a sage call'd Discipline. His head, 
Not yet by time completely silver'd o'er, 
Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth 
But strong for service still, and unimpair'd. 
His eye was meek and gentle, and a smile 
Play'd on his lips ; and in his speech was heard 
Paternal sweetness, dignity, and love. 
The occupation dearest to his heart 
Was to encourage goodness. He would stroke 
The head of modest and ingenuous worth. 
That blush'd at his own praise : and press the 

youth 
Close to his side that pleas'd him. Learning 

grew 
Beneath his care, a thriving vig'rous plant ; 
The mind was well informed, the passions held 
Subordinate, and diligence was choice. 
If e'er it chanc'd, as sometimes chance it must 
That one among so many overleap' d 
The hmits of control, his gentle eye 
Grew stern, and darted a severe rebuke ; 
His frown was full of terrour, and his voice 
Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe, 
As left him not, till penitence had won 
Lost favour back again, and clos'd the breach. 
But Discipline, a faithful servant long, 
DecUn'd at length into the vale of years. 
A palsy struck his arm ; his sparkling eye 
Was quenched in rheums of age ; his voice un- 
strung. 
Grew tremulous, and mov'd derision more 
Than rev'rence, in perverse rebellious youth. 



So colleges and halls neglected much 

Their good old friend ; and DiscipUne at length, 

O'erlook'd and unemploy'd, fell sick and died. 

Then Study languished, Emulation slept, 

And Virtue fled. The schools became a scene 

Of solemn farce, where Ignorance in stilts, 

His cap well hn'd with logick not his own, 

With parrot tongue perform'd the scholar's part, 

Proceeding soon a graduated dunce. 

Then compromise had place, and scrutiny 

Became stone bhnd ; precedence went in truck, 

And he was competent whose purse was so. 

A dissolution of all bonds ensued ; 

The curbs invented for the mulish mouth 

Of headstrong youth were broken ; bars and 

bolts 
Grew rusty by disuse ; and massy gates 
Forgot their office, op'ning with a touch ; 
Till gowns at length are found mere masquerade, 
The tassel'd cap and the spruce band a jest, 
A mock'ry of the World I What need of these 
For gamesters, jockeys, brothelers impure, 
Spendthrifts, and booted sportsmen, oft'ner seen 
With belted waist and pointers at their heels. 
Than in the bounds of duty ? What was learn'd, 
If aught was learn'd in childhood, is forgot : 
And such expense, as pinches parents blue, 
And mortifies the lib'ral hand of love. 
Is squander' d in pursuit of idle sports 
And vicious pleasures ; buys the boy a name 
That sits a stigma on his father's house, 
And cleaves through life inseparably close 



■ THE TASK. 87 

To him that wears it. What can after games 
Of riper joys, and commerce with the world, 
The lewd vain world, that must receive him soon, 
Add to such erudition, thus acquired, 
Where science and where virtue are professed? 
They may confirm his habits, rivet fast 
His folly, but to spoil him is a task 
That bids defiance to th' united powers 
Of fashion, dissipation, taverns, stews. 
Now blame we most the nurselings or the nurse? 
The children crook'd, and twisted, and deform'd. 
Through want of care; or her, whose winking eye 
And slumb'ring oscitancy mars the brood ? 
The nurse, no doubt. Regardless of her charge. 
She needs herself correction ; needs to learn 
That it is dang'rous sporting with the world, 
With things so sacred as a nation's trust, 
The nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge. 

All are not such. I had a brother once — 
Peace to the memory of a man of worth, 
A man of letters, and of manners too ! 
Of manners sweet as Virtue always wears, 
When gay good-nature dresses her in smiles. 
He grac'd a college,* in which order yet 
Was sacred ; and was honour'd, lov'd, and wept 
By more than one, themselves conspicuous there. 
Some minds are temper'd happily, and mix'd 
With such ingredients of good sense, and taste 
Of what is excellent in man, they thrist 

* Bene't Coll. Cambridge. 



With such a zeal to be what they approve, 
That no restraints can circumscribe them more 
Than they themselves by choice, for wisdom's 

sake. 
Nor can example hurt them ; what they see 
Of vice in others but enhancing more 
The charms of virtue in their just esteem. 
If such escape contagion, and emerge 
Pure from so foul a pool to shine abroad, 
And give the world their talents and themselves, 
Small thanks to those whose negligence or 

sloth 
Expos'd their inexperience to the snare, 
And left them to an undirected choice. 

See then the quiver broken and decay'd 
In which are kept our arrows ! Rusting there 
In wild disorder, and unfit for use. 
What wonder, if discharg'd into the world, 
They shame their shooters with a random 

flight, 
Their points obtuse, and feathers drunk with 

wine ! 
Well may the church wage unsuccessful war 
With such artil'ry arm'd. Vice parries wide 
Th' undreaded volley with a sword of straw, 
And stands an impudent and fearless mark. 
Have we not track'd the felon home, and 

found 
His birthplace and his dam ? The country 

mourns, 
Mourns because ev'ry plague that can infest 
Society, and that saps and worms the base 



THE TASK. 89 

Of th' edifice that policy has rais'd, 
Swarms in all quarters : meets the eye, the ear, 
And suffocates the breath at ev'ry turn. 
Profusion breeds them ; and the cause itself 
Of that "calamitous mischief has been found: 
Found, too, where most offensive, in the skirts 
Of the rob'd pedagogue! Else let th' arraign'd 
Stand up unconscious, and refute the charge. 
So when the Jewish leader stretch'd his arm, 
And wav'd his rod divine, a race obscene, 
Spawn'd in the muddy beds of Nile, came forth, 
Polluting Egypt : gardens, fields, and plains, 
Were cover' d with the pest; the streets were 

filled ; 
The croaking nuisance lurk'd in ev'ry nook; 
Nor places, nor even chambers, 'scap'd ; 
And the land stank — so num'rous was the fry. 



THE TASK. 

BOOK m. 



THE GARDEN. 



ARGUMENT OF THE TfflRD BOOK. 

Sclf-recoUection, and reproof— Address to domestic hap. 
piness— Some account of myself— The vanity of many 
of ttieir pursuits, wlio are reputed wise— Justification of 
my censures— Divine illuminaiion necessary to tha 
most expert philosoplier — Tlie question, What is truth? 
answered by other questions— Domestic happiness ad- 
dressed again -Few lovers of the country— My tame 
hare — Occupations of a r^-tired gentleman in his garden 
— Pruning— Framing— Greenhouse— Sowing of flower 
seeds— The country preferable to the town even in the 
winter— Reasons why it is deserted at that season — 
Ruinous effects of gaming and of expensive improve- 
ment—Book concludes with an apostrophe to the 
metropolis. 



As one, who long in thickets and in brakes 
Entangled, w^inds now this way and now that 
His devious course uncertain, seeking home ; 
Or, having long in miry ways been foil'd 
90 



THE TASK. 91 

And sore discomfited, from slough to slough 

Plunging, and half despairing of escape ; 

If chance at length he find a greensward smooth 

And faithful to the foot, his spirits rise, 

He cherups brisk his ear-erecting steed. 

And winds his way with pleasure and with ease. 

So I, designing other themes, and call'd 

T' adorn the Sofa with eulogium due. 

To tell its slumbers, and to paint its dreams. 

Have rambled wide. In country, city, seat 

Of academic fame, (howe'er deserv'd,) 

Long held, and scarcely disengag'd at last : 

But now with pleasant pace a cleanlier road 

I mean to tread. I feel myself at large. 

Courageous, and refresh'd for future toil, 

If toil await me, or if dangers new. 

Since pulpits fail, and sounding boards reflect 
Most part an empty ineffectual sound. 
What chance that I, to fame so little known, 
Nor conversant with men or manners much, 
Should speak to purpose, or with better hope 
Crack the satiric thong ? 'Twere wiser far 
For me, enamour'd of sequester'd scenes, 
And charm'd with rural beauty, to repose 
Where chance may throw me, beneath elm or 

vine. 
My languid Umbs; when summer sears the 

plains ; 
Or, when rough winter rages, on the soft 
And shelter'd Sofa, while the nitrous air 
Feeds a blue flame, and makes a cheerful 

hearth ; 



92 THE TASK. 

There, undisturb'd by Folly, and appriz'd 
How great the danger of disturbing her, 
To muse in silence, or at least confine 
Remarks, that gall so many, to the few 
My partners in retreat. Disgust conceal'd 
Is ofttimes proof of wisdom, when the fault 
Is obstinate, and cure beyond our reach. 

Domestic happiness, thou only bhss 
Of Paradise, that has surviv'd the fall ! 
Though few now taste thee unimpair'd and pure, 
Or tasting, long enjoy thee ! too infirm. 
Or too incautious, to preserve thy sweets 
Unmix'd with drops of bitter, which neglect 
Or temper sheds into thy crystal cup ; 
Thou art the nurse of Virtue — in thine arms 
She smiles, appearing, as in truth she is, 
Heav'n-born, and destin'd to the skies again. 
Thou art not known where Pleasure is ador'd, 
That reeling goddess, with the zoneless waist 
And wand'ring eyes, still leaning on the arm 
Of Novelty, her fickle, frail support ; 
For thou art meek and constant, hating change, 
And finding in the calm of truth-tried love, 
Joys that her stormy raptures never yield, 
Forsaking thee, what shipwreck have we made 
Of honour, dignity, and fair renown ! 
Till prostitution elbows us aside 
In all our crowded streets ; and senates seem 
Conven'd for purposes of empire less 
Than to release the adult' ress from her bond. 
Th' adult'ress ! what a theme for angry verse! 
What provocation to th' indignant heart, 



THE TASK. 93 

That feels for injur' d love ! but I disdain 
The nauseous task to paint her as she is. 
Cruel, abandon'd, glorying in her shame ! 
No: — let her pass, and, charioted along 
In guilty splendour, shake the public ways ; 
The frequency of crimes has wash'd them white, 
And verse of mine shall never brand the wretch, 
Whom matrons now of character unsmirch'd 
And chaste themselves, are not asham'd to own. 
Virtue and vice had bound' ries in old time, 
Not to be pass'd: and she that had renounced 
Her sex's honour, was renounc'd herself 
By all that priz'd it ; not for prud'ry's sake 
But dignity's, resentful of the wrong, 
'Twas hard perhaps on here and there a waif, 
Desirous to return and not receiv'd : 
But was a wholesome rigour in the main. 
And taught th' unb.emish'd to preserve with care 
That purity, whose .oss was loss of all. 
Men too were nice in honour in those days, 
And judg'd offenders well. Then he that 

sharp'd, 
And pocketed a prize by fraud obtain'd, 
Was mark'd and shunn'd as odious. He that 

sold 
His country, or was slack when she requir'd 
His ev'ry nerve in action and at stretch, 
Paid with the blood that he had basely spar'd 
The price of his default. But now — yes, now 
We are become so candid and so fair 
So lib'ral in construction, and so rich 
In christian charity, (good natur'd age !) 



94 THE TASK. 

That they are safe ; sinners of either sex 
Transgress what laws they may. Well dress'd, 

well bred, 
Well equipag'd, is ticket good enough, 
To pass as readily through ev'ry door. 
Hypocrisy, detest her as we may, 
(And no man's hatrid ever wrong' d her yet,) 
May claim this merit still — that she admits 
The worth of what she mimics, with such care. 
And thus gives virtue indirect applause; 
But she has burnt her mask, not needed here, 
Where vice has such allowance, that her shifts 
And specious semblances have lost their use. 

I was a stricken deer, that left the herd 
Long since. With many an arrow deep infix'd 
My panting side was charg'd, when I withdrew 
To seek a tranquil death in distant shades. 
There was I found by one who had himself 
Been hurt by th' archers. In his side he bore, 
And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars. 
With gentle force soliciting the darts. 
He drew them forth, and heal'd, and bade me 

live. 
Since then, with few associates, in remote 
And silent woods I wander, far from those 
My former partners of the peopled scene ; 
With few associates, and not wishing more. 
Here much I ruminate, as much I may, 
With other views of men and manners now 
Than once, and others of a life to come 
I see that all arc wand'rers, gone astray 
Each in his own delusions ; they are lost 



THE TASK. 95 

In chase of fancied happiness, still woo'd 
And never won. Dream after dream ensues ; 
And still they dream that they shall still succeed, 
And still are disappointed. Rings the world 
With the vain stir. I sum up half mankind 
And add two thirds of the remaining half, 
And find the total of their hopes and fears 
Dreams, empty dreams. The million flit as 

gay, 
As if created only like the fly. 
That spreads his motly wings in th' eye of noon, 
To sport their season, and be seen no more. 
The rest are sober dreamers, grave and wise, 
And pregnant with discoveries new and rare. 
Some write a narrative of wars, and feats 
Of heroes little known ; and call the rant 
A history: describe the man, of whom 
His own coevals took but little note 
And paint his person, character, and views. 
As they had known him from his mother's 

womb. 
They disentangle from the puzzled skein. 
In which obscurity has wrapp'd them up. 
The threads of pohtic and shrewd design, 
That ran through all his purposes, and charge 
His mind with meanings that he never had, 
Or, having, kept conceal' d. Some drill and 

bore 
The solid earth, and from the strata there 
Extract a register, by which we learn, 
That he who made it and reveal' d hs date 
To Moses, was mistaken in its age. 



96 THE TASK. 

Some, more acute, and more industrious still, 
Contrive creation ; travel nature up 
To the sharp peak of her subhniist height, 
And tell us whence the stars : why some are 

fix'd, 
And planetary some ; what gave them first 
Rotation, from what fountain flow'd their light. 
Great contest follows, and much learned dust, 
Involves the combatants ; each claiming truth, 
And truth disclaiming both. And thus they 

spend 
The little wick of life's poor shallow lamp 
In playing tricks with nature, giving laws 
To distant worlds, and trifling in their own. 
Is't not a pity now, that tickhng rheums 
Should ever tease the lungs, and blear the sight 
Of oracles like these ? Great pity, too, 
That having wielded th' elements, and built 
A thousand systems, each in his own way, 
They should go out in fume, and be forgot. 
Ah ! what is life thus spent? and what are they 
But frantic, who thus spend it ? all for smoke — 
Eternity for bubbles, proves at last 
A senseless bargain. When I see such games 
Play'd by the creatures of a pow'r who swears 
That he will judge the Earth, and call the fool 
To a sharp reck'ning, that has liv'd in vain; 
And when I weigh this seeming wisdom well, 
And prove it in th' infallible result 
So hollow and so false — I feel my heart 
Dissolve in pity, and account the learn'd, 
If this be learning, most of all deceiv'd. 



THE- TASK. 97' 

Great crimes alarm the conscience, but it sleeps, 
While thoughtful man is plausibly amused. 
Defend me, therefore, common sense, say I, 
From reveries so airy, from the toil 
Of dropping buckets into empty wells. 
And growing old in drawing nothing up ! 
'Twere well, says one, sage, erudite, pro- 
found, 
Terribly arch'd and aquiline his nose. 
And overbuilt with most impending brows, 
'Twere well, could you permit the World to 

live 
As the World pleases : what's the World to 

you? 
Much. I was born of woman, and drew milk 
As sweet as charity from human breasts. 
I think, articulate — I laugh and weep. 
And exercise all functions of a man. 
How then should I and any man that lives 
Be strangers to each other ? Pierce my vein, 
Take of the crimson stream meand'ring there, 
And catechise it well : apply thy glass. 
Search it, and prove now if it be not blood 
Congenial with thine own: and, if it be, 
What edge of subtlety canst thou suppose 
Keen enough, wise and skilful as thou art, 
To cut the link of brotherhood, by which 
One common Maker bound me to the kind ? 
True ; I am no proficient, I confess. 
In arts like yours. I cannot call the swift 
And perilous lightnings from the angry clouds, 
And bid them hide themselves in earth beneath; 
7 



I cannot analyze the air, nor catch 

The parallax of yonder luminous point, 

That seems half quench' d in the immense 

abyss : 
Such powers I boast not — neither can 1 rest 
A silent witness of the headlong rage. 
Or heedless folly, by which thousands die. 
Bone of my bone, and kindred souls to mine. 
God never meant that man should scale the 

Heav'ns 
By strides of human wisdom. In his works, 
Though wondrous, he commands us in his word 
To seek him rather where his mercy shines. 
The mind, indeed, enlighten'd from above. 
Views him in all; ascribes to the grand cause 
The grand efiect ; acknowledges with joy 
His manner, and with rapture tastes his style. 
But never yet did philosophic tube, 
That brings the planets home into the eye 
Ofobservation, and discovers, else 
Not visible, his family of worlds. 
Discover him that rules them ; such a veil 
Hangs over mortal eyes, bUnd from the birth. 
And dark in things divine. Full often too, 
Our wayward intellect, the more we learn 
Of nature, overlooks her author more ; 
From instrumental causes proud to draw 
Conclusions retrograde, and mad mistake. 
But if his word once teach us — shoot a ray 
Through all the heart's dark chambers, and 

reveal 
Truths undiscern'd but by that holy light ; 



THE TASK. 99 

Then all is plain. Philosophy, baptiz'd 

In the pure fountain of eternal love, 

Has eyes indeed ; and viewing all she sees 

As meant to indicate a God to man. 

Gives libn his praise, and forfeits not her own. 

Learning has borne such fruit in other days 

On all her branches : piety has found 

Friends in the friends of science, and true pray'r 

Has flow'd from lips wet with Castalian dews. 

Such was thy wisdom, Newton, childUke sage ! 

Sagacious reader of the works of God, 

And in his word sagacious. Such, too, thine, 

Milton, whose genius had angelic wings, 

And fed on manna! And such thine, in whom 

Our British Themis gloried with just cause, 

Immortal Hale ! for deep discernment prais'd, 

And sound integrity, not more than fam'd 

For sanctity of manners undefil'd. 

All flesh is grass, and all its glory fades 
Like the fair flow'r dishevell'd in the wind ; 
Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream, 
The man we celebrate must find a tomb, 
And we that worship him, ignoble graves. 
Nothing is proof against the gen' ral curse 
Of vanity that seizes all below. 
The only amaranthine flow'r on earth 
Is virtue ; th' only lasting treasure, truth. 
But what is truth? 'Twas Pilate's question put 
To Truth itself, that deign'd him no reply. 
And wherefore ? will not God impart his light 
To them that ask it? — Freely — 'tis his joy, 
His glory, and his nature, to impart. 



100 THE TASK. 

But to the proud, uncandid, insincere, 

Or negligent inquirer, not a spark. 

What's that which brings contempt upon a book, 

And him who writes it, though the style be neat, 

The method clear, and argument exact : 

That makes a minister in holy things 

The joy of many, and the dread of more. 

His name a theme for praise and for reproach? — 

That, while it gives us worth in God's account, 

Depreciates and undoes us in our own ? 

What pearl is it, that rich men cannot buy. 

That learning is too proud to gather up ; 

But which the poor, and the despis'd of all. 

Seek and obtain, and often find unsought; 

Tell me — and I will tell thee what is truth. 

O friendly to the best pursuits of man, 
Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace ! 
Domestic life in rural leisure pass'd ! 
Few know thy value, and few taste thy sweets; 
Though many boast thy favours, and affect 
To understand and choose thee for their own. 
But foolish man foregoes his proper bliss, 
E'en as his first progenitor, and quits. 
Though plac'd in Paradise, (for earth has still, 
Some traces of her youthful beauty left) 
Substantial happiness for transient joy: 
Scenes form'd for contemplation, and to nurse 
The growing seeds of wisdom ; that suggest 
By ev'ry pleasing image they present, 
Reflections such as meliorate the heart, 
Compose the passions, and exalt the mind ; 
Scenes such as these 'tis his supreme deUght 



THE TASK, 101 

To fill with riot, and defile with blood. 

Should some contagion, kind to the poor brutes 

We persecute, annihilate the tribes 

That draw the sportsman over hill and dale, 

Fearless and wrapt away from all his cares ; 

Should never game-fowl hatch her eggs again, 

Nor baited hook deceive the fish's eye ; 

Could pageantry and dance, and feast and song, 

Be quell'd in all our summer-months' retreats; 

How many self-deluded nymphs and swains, 

Who dream they have a taste for fields and 

groves. 
Would find them hideous nurs'ries of the spleen, 
And crowd the roads, impatient for the town ! 
They love the country, and none else, who seek, 
For their own sake, its silence and its shade. 
Delights which who would leave that has a heart 
Susceptible of pity, or a mind 
Cultur'd and capable of sober thought 
For all the savage din of the swift pack 
And clamours of the field ? — Detested sport, 
That owes its pleasures to another's pain ; 
That feeds upon the sobs and dying shrieks 
Of harmless nature, dumb, but yet endued 
With eloquence, that agonies inspire, 
Of silent tears and heart-distending sighs ? 
Vain tears, alas, and sighs that never find 
A corresponding tone in jovial souls ! 
Well — one at least is safe. One shelter'd hare 
Has never heard the sanguinary yell 
Of cruel man, exulting in her woes. 
Innocent partner of my peaceful home, 



102 THE TASK. 

Whom ten long years' experience of my care 

Has made at last familiar: she has lost 

Much of her vigilant instinctive dread, 

Not needful here, beneath a roof like mine. 

Yes — thou mayst eat thy bread, and lick the hand 

That feeds thee ; thou mayst frolic on the floor 

At ev'ning, and at night retire secure 

To thy straw couch, and slumber unalarm'd, 

For I have gained thy confidence, have pledg'd 

All that is human in me, to protect 

Thine unsuspecting gratitude and love. 

If I survive thee, I will dig thy grave ; 

And, when I place thee in it, sighing say, 

I knew at least one hare that had a friend.* 

How various his employments, whom the world 
Calls idle ; and who justly in return 
Esteems that busy world an idler too! 
Friends, books, a garden, and perhaps his pen, 
Delightful industry enjoy'd at home, 
And nature in her cultivated trim 
Dress' d to his taste, inviting him abroad — 
Can he want occupation who has these? 
Will he be idle who has much t' enjoy ? 
Me therefore studious of laborious ease, 
Not slothful, happy to deceive the time, 
Not waste it, and aware that human life 
Is but a loan to be repaid with use, 
When He shall call his debtors to account, 
From whom are all our blessings, business finds 
E'en here : while sedulous I seek t' improve, 

* See the note at the end. 



THE TASK. 103 

At least neglect not, or leave unemploy'd, 

The mind he gave me ; driving it, though slack 

Too oft, and much impeded in its work 

By causes not to be divulg'd in vain, 

To its just point — the service of mankind. 

He that attends to his interior self, 

That has a heart, and keeps it : has a mind 

That hungers and suppUesit; and who seeks 

A social, not a dissipated life, 

Has business ; feels himself engag'd to achieve 

No unimportant, though a silent task. 

A life all turbulence and noise may seem 

7'o him that leads it wise, and to be prais'd; 

But wisdom is a pearl with most success 

Sought in still water, and beneath clear skies : 

He that is ever occupied in storms. 

Or dives not for it, or brings up instead, 

Vainly industrious, a disgraceful prize. 

The morning finds the self-sequester'd man 
Fresh for his task, intend what task he may. 
Whether inclement seasons recommend 
His warm but simple home, where he enjoys 
With her who shares his pleasures and his heart 
Sweet converse, sipping calm the fragrant lymph, 
Which neatly she prepares : then to his book 
Well chosen, and not sullenly perus'd 
In selfish silence, but imparted, oft 
As aught occurs that she may smile to hear, 
Or turn to nourishment, digested well, 
Or if the garden with its many cares, 
All well repaid, demand him, he attends 
Th3 welcome call, conscious how much the hand 



104 THE TASK. 

Oflubbard Labour needs his watchful eye, 

Oft loit'ring lazy, if not o'erseen, 

Or misapplying his unskilful strength. 

Nor does he govern only, or direct, 

But much performs himself. No works indeed^ 

That ask robust, tough sinews bred to toil, 

Servile employ ; but such as may amuse, 

Nor tire, demanding rather skill than force. 

Proud of his well-spread walls he views his 

trees, 
That meet, no barren interval between, 
With pleasure more than e'en their fruits afford ; 
Which, save himself who trains them, none can 

feel. 
These therefore are his own peculiar charge; 
No meaner hand may discipline the shoots. 
None but his steel approach them. What is 

weak. 
Distemper' d, or has lost p.rolific pow'rs, 
Impair'd by age, his unrelenting hand 
Dooms to the knife : nor does be spare the soft 
And succulent, that feeds its giant growth, 
But barren, at th' expense of neighb'ring twigs 
Less ostentatious, and yet studded thick 
With hopeful gems. The rest, no portion left 
That may disgrace his art, or disappoint 
Large expectation, he disposes neat 
At measur'd distances, that air and sun, 
Admitted freely may afford their aid, 
And ventilate and warm the swelling buds. 
Hence summer has her riches. Autumn hence. 
And hence e'en Winter fills iris wither' d hand 



THE TASK. 105 

With blushing fruits, and plenty not his own.* 
Fair recompense of labour well bestow'd, 
And wise precaution ; whicli a clime so rude 
Makes needful still, whose Spring is but the child 
Of churhsh Winter, in her froward moods 
Discov'ring much the temper of her sire. 
For oft, as if in her the stream of mild 
Maternal nature had revers'd its course, 
She brings her infants forth with many smiles; 
But once deliver'd, kills them with a frown. 
He therefore, timely warn'd, himself supplies 
Her want of care, screening and keeping warm 
The plenteous bloom, that no rough blast may 

sweep 
His garlands from the boughs. Again, as oft 
As the sun peeps, and vernal airs breathe mild. 
The fence withdrawn, he gives them ev'ry 

beam, 
And spreads his hopes before the blaze of day. 
To raise the prickly and green-coated gourd. 
So grateful to the palate, and when rare 
So coveted, else base and disesteem'd— 
Food for the vulgar merely — is an art 
That toiling ages have but just matur'd, 
And at this moment unessay'd in song. 
Yet gnats have had, and frogs and mice, long 

since, 
Their eulogy ; those sang the Mantuan bard, 
And these ihe Grecian, in ennobling strains; 
And in thy numbers. Philips, shines for aye 

* Miraturque novus frucius et non sua poraa. Yirg. 



106 THE TASK. 

The solitary shilling. Pardon, then, 
Ye sage dispensers of poetic fame, 
Th' ambition of one meaner far, whose pow'rs, 
Presuming an attempt not less sublime. 
Pant for the praise of dressing to the taste 
Of critic appetite, no sordid fare, 
A encumber, while costly yet and scarce. 
The stable yields a stercoraceous heap, 
Impregnated with quick fermenting salts, 
And potent to resist the freezing blast : 
For ere the beach and elm have cast their leaf 
Decidious, when now November dark 
Checks vegitation in the torpid plant 
Expos'd to his cold breath, the task begins. 
Warily, therefore, and whh prudent heed, 
He seeks a favour'd spot ; that where he builds 
Th' agglomerated pile his frame may front 
The sun's meridian disk, and at the back 
Enjoy close shelter, wall, or reeds, or hedge 
Impervious to the wind. First he bids spread 
Dry fern or litter'd hay, that may imbibe 
Th' ascending damps ; then leisurely impose, 
And lightly shaking it with agile hand 
From the full fork, the saturated straw. 
What longest binds the closest forms secure 
The shapely side that as it rises takes, 
By just degrees, an overhanging breath, 
Shell' ring the base with its projected eaves; 
Th' upliited frame, compact at ev'ry joint. 
And overlaid with clear translucent glass, 
He settles next upon the sloping mount, 
Wliose sharp declivity shoots off secure 



THE TASK. 107 

From the dash'd pane the deluge as it falls. 
He shuts it close, and the first labour ends. 
Thrice must the voluble and restless Earth 
Spin round upon her axle, ere the warmth, 
Slow gath'ring in the midst, through the square 

mass 
Diffus'd, attain the surface; when, behold! 
A pestilent and most corrosive stream, 
Like a gross fog Boeotian, rising fast. 
And fast condens'd upon the dewy sash, 
Asks egress? which obtain'd, the overcharg'd 
And drench'd conservatory breathes abroad, 
In volumes wheeling slow the vapour dank; 
And, purified, rejoices to have lost 
Its foul inhabitant. But to assuage 
Th' impatient fervour, which it first conceives 
Within its reeking bosom, threat' ning death 
To his young hopes, requires discreet delay. 
Experience, slow preceptress, teaching oft 
The way to glory by miscarriage foul. 
Must prompt him, and admonish how to catch 
Th' auspicious moment, when the temper'd heat, 
Friendly to vital motion, may afford 
Soft fomentation, and invite the seed. 
The seed, selected wisely, plump, and smooth, 
And glossy, he commits to pots of size 
Diminutive, well-fiU'd whh well-prepar'd 
And fruitful soil, that has been treasur'd long, 
And drank no moisture from the dripping clouds. 
These on the warm and genial earth that hides 
The smoking manure, and o'erspreads it all, 
He places lightly, and. as time subdues 



108 THE TASK. 

The rage of fermentation, plunges deep 

In the soft medium, till they stand immers'd. 

Then rise the tender germs, upstarting quick 

And spreading wide their spongy lobes ; at first 

Pale, wan, and livid ; but assuming soon, 

If fann'd by balmy and nutritious air, 

Strain' d through the friendly mats, a vivid green. 

Two leaves produc'd, two rough indented leaves, 

Cautious he pinches from the second stalk 

A pimple that portends a future sprout, 

And interdicts its growth. Thence straight 

succeed 
The branches, sturdy to his utmost wish ; 
Prolific all, and harbingers of more. 
The crowded roots demand enlargement now, 
And transplantation in an ampler space. 
Indulg'd in what they wish, they soon supply 
Large foliage, overshadowing golden flow'rs, 
Blown on the summit of the apparent fruit. 
These have their sexes ; and when summer 

shines 
The bee transports the fertilizing meal 
From flow'r to flow'r, and e'en the breathing ail 
Wafts the rich prize to its appointed use. 
Not so when winter scowls. Assistant Art 
Then acts in Nature's office, brings to pass 
The glad espousals, and ens.ures the crop. 

Grudge not, ye rich, (since Luxury must have 
His dainties, and the World's more num'rous half 
Lives by contriving delicaies for yon,) 
Grudge not the cost. Ye little know the cares 
The vigilance, the labour, and the skill, 



THE TASK. 109 

That day and night are exejcis'd, and hang 
Upon the ticklish balance of suspense, 
That ye may garnish your profuse regales 
With summer fruits brought forth by wintry 

suns. 
Ten thousand dangers lie in wait to thwart 
The process. Heat, and cold, and wind, and 

steam, 
Moisture and drought, mice, worms, and 

swarming flies, 
Minute as dust, and numberless, oft work 
Dire disappointment, that admits no cure. 
And which no care can obviate. It were long, 
Too long, to tell th' expedients and the shifts, 
Which he that fights a season so severe 
Devises while he guards his tender trust ; 
And oft at last in vain. The learn'd and wise 
Sarcastic would exclaim, and judge the song 
Cold as its theme, and like its theme the fruit 
Of too much labour, worthless when produc'd. 
Who loves a garden loves a green-house too. 
Unconscious of a less propitious chme. 
There blooms exotic beauty, warm and snug. 
While the winds whistle and the snows descend 
The spiry myrtle with unwith'ring leaf 
Shines there, and flourishes. The golden boast 
Of Portugal and western India there. 
The ruddier orange, and the paler lime, 
Peep through their polish' d foliage at the storm, 
And seem to smile at what they need not fear. 
The amomum there with intermingling flow'rs 
And cherries hangs her twigs. Geranium boasts 



110 THE TASK. 

Her crimson honours ; and the spangled beau, 
Ficoides glitters bright the winter long. 
All plants of ev'ry leaf, that can endure 
The winter's frown, if screen'd from his shrewd 

bite, 
Live there, and prosper. Those Ausonia claims, 
Levantine regions these ; th' Azores send 
Their jessamine, her jessamine remote 
Caffraria : foreigners from many lands, 
They form one social shade, as if conven'd 
By magic summons of th' Orphean lyre. 
Yet just arrangement, rarely brought to pass 
But by a master's hand, disposing well 
The gay diversities of leaf and flow'r. 
Must lend its aid t' illustrate all their charms, 
And dress the regular yet various scene. 
Plant behind plant aspiring, in the van 
The dwarfish, in the rear retir'd, but still 
Sublime above the rest, the statelier stand. 
So once were rang'd the sons of ancient Rome, 
A noble show ! while Roscius trod the stage ; 
And so, while Garrick, as renown' d as he, 
The sons of Albion ; fearing each to lose 
Some note of Nature's music from his lips, 
And covetous of Shakspeare's beauty, seen 
In ev'ry flash of his far-beaming eye, 
Nor taste alone and well-contriv'd display 
Suffice to give the marshall'd ranks the grace 
Of their complete effect. Much yet remains 
Unsung, and many cares are yet behind. 
And more laborious; cares on which depend 
Their vigour, injur'd soon, not soon restor'd. 



THE TASK. Ill 

The soil must be renew'd, which often wash'd 
Loses its treasure of salubrious salts, 
And disappoints the roots ; the slender roots 
Close interwoven, where they meet the vase, 
Must smooth be shorn away ; the sapless branch, 
Must fly before the knife ; the wither'd leaf 
Must be detach'd, and where it strews the floor 
Swept with a woman's neatness, breeding else 
Contagion and disseminating death. 
Discharge but these kind offices, (and who 
Would spare, that loves them, offices like these?) 
Well they repay the toil. The sight is pleased, 
The scent regal'd, each odorif'rous leaf. 
Each opening blossom, freely breathes abroad 
Its gratitude, and thanks him wiih its sweets. 

So manifold, all pleasing in their kind, 
All healthful, are th' employs of rural life. 
Reiterated as the wheel of time 
Runs round ; still ending, and beginning still. 
Nor are these all. To deck the shapely knoll 
That softly swell'd and gaily dress'd appears 
A flow'ry island, from the dark green lawn 
Emerging, must be deem'd a labour due 
To no mean hand, and asks the touch of taste. 
Here also gra'teful mixture of well-match'd 
And sorted hues, (each giving each relief, 
And by contrasted beauty shining more,) 
Is needful. Strength may wield the pond'rous 

spade, 
May turn the clod, and wheel the compost home; 
But elegance, chief grace the garden shows, 
And most attractive, is the fair result 



112 THE TASK. 

Of thought, the creature of a polish'd mind. 

Without it all is Gothic as the scene 

To which th' insipid citizen resorts 

Near yonder heath ; where industry mispent, 

But proud of his uncouth, ill-chosen task, 

Has made a Heav'n on Earth; with suns and 

moons 
Of close-ramm'd stones has charg'd th' encum- 
ber' d soil, 
And fairly laid the zodiac in the dust. 
He, therefore, who would see his flow'rsdispos'd 
Sightly and in just order, ere he gives 
The beds the trusted treasure of their seeds, 
Forecasts the future whole ; that, when the 

scene 
Shall break into its preconceiv'd display, 
Each for itself, and all as with one voice 
Conspiring, may attest his bright design, 
Nor even then dismissing as perform'd. 
His pleasant work, may he suppose it done. 
Few self-supported flow'rs endure the wind 
Uninjur'd, but expect the upholding aid 
Of the smooth shaven prop, and, neatly tied, 
Are wedded thus, like beauty to old age, 
For int'rest sake, the living to the dead. 
Some clothe the soil that feeds them, far diffus'd 
And lowly creeping, modest and yet fair, 
Like virtue, thriving most where little seen 
Some more aspiring catch the neighbour shrub 
With clasping tendrils, and invest his branch, 
Else unadorn'd, with many a gay festoon 
And fragrant chaplet, recompensing well 



THE TASK. 113 

The strength they borrow with the grace they 

lend. 
All hate the rank society of weeds, 
Noisome, and ever greedy to exhaust 
Th' impov'rish'd earth ; an overbearing race, 
That, like the multitude made faction mad, 
Disturb good order, and degrade true worth. 

O blest seclusion from a jarring world, 
Which he, thus occupied, enjoys I Retreat 
Cannot indeed to guilty man restore 
Lost innocence, or cancel follies past; 
But it has peace, and much secures the mind 
From all assaults of evil ; proving still 
A fahhful barrier, not o'erleap'd with ease 
By vicious Custom, raging uncontroU'd 
Abroad, and desolating public life. 
When fierce Temptation, seconded within 
By traitor Appetite, and arm'd with darts 
Temper'd in Hell, invades the throbbing breast, 
To combat may be glorious, and success 
Perhaps may crown us ; but to fly is safe. 
Had I the choice of sublunary good, 
What could I wish, that I possess not here ? 
Health, leisure, means t' improve it, friendship, 

peace, 
No loose or wanton, though a wand'ring muse. 
And constant occupation without care. 
Thus blest, I draw a picture of that bliss ; 
Hopeless, indeed, that dissipated minds, 
And profligate abusers of a world 
Created fair so much in vain for them. 
Should seek the guiltless joys that I describe, 

8 



114 THE TASK. 

Allur'd by my report : btU sure no less 

That self-condemn'd they must neglect the prize, 

And what they will not taste must yet approve. 

What we admire we priase ; and when we praise 

Advance it into notice, that, its worth 

Acknowledg'd, others may admire it too. 

I therefore recommend, though at the risk 

Of popular disgust, yet boldly still, 

The cause of piety and sacred truth, 

And virtue, &nd those scenes which God or- 

dain'd 
Should best secure them, and promote them 

most ; 
Scenes that I love, and with regret perceive 
Forsaken, or through folly not enjoy'd. 
Pure is the nymph, though lib'ral of her smiles, 
And chaste, though unconfin'd, whom I extol. 
Not as the prince in Shushan, when he call'd, 
Vain-glorious of her charms, his Vashti forth, 
To grace the full pavilion. His design 
Was but to boast his own peculiar good, 
Which all might view with envy, none partake. 
My charmer is not mine alone ; my sweets, 
And she that sweetens all my bitters too. 
Nature, enchanting Nature, in whose form 
And hneaments divine I trace a hand 
That errs not, and find raptures still renew'd. 
Is free to all men — universal prize. 
Strange that so fair a creature should yet want 
Admirers, and be destin'd to divide 
With meaner objects e'en the few she finds ! 
Stripp'd of her ornaments, her leaves and flow'rs, 



THE TASK, 115 

She loses all her influence. Cities then 

Attract us, and neglected nature pines, 

Abandon'd as unworthy ofour love. 

But are not wholesome airs, though unperfum'd 

By roses ; and clear suns, though scarcely felt; 

And groves, if unharmonious, yet secure 

From clamour, and whose very silence charms : 

To be preferr'd to sinoke, to the eclipse, 

That metropolitan volcanoes make, 

Whose Stygian throats breathe darkness all day 

long ; 
And to the stir of Commerce, driving slow, 
And thund'ring loud, with his ten thousand 

wheels? 
They would be, were not madness in the head, 
And folly in the heart; were England now, 
What England was, plain, hospitable, kind. 
And undebauch'd. But we have bid farewell 
To all the virtues of those better days, 
And all their honest pleasures. Mansions once 
Knew their own masters ; and laborious hinds, 
Who had surviv'd the father, serv'd the son. 
Now, the legitimate and rightful lord 
Is but a transient guest, newly arriv'd. 
And soon to be supplanted. He that saw 
His patrimonial timber cast its leaf. 
Sells the last scantling, and transfers the price 
To some shrewd sharper, ere it buds again. 
Estates are landscapes, gaz'd upon a while, 
Then advertis'd, and auctioneer'd away. 
The country starves, and they that feed th' 

o'rcharg'd 



116 THE TASK. 

And surfeited lewd town with her fair dues, 
By a just judgment stript and starve themselves. 
The wings that waft our riches out of sight, 
Grow on the gamester's elbows, and the alert 
And nimble motion of those restless joints, 
That never tire, soon fans them all away. 
Improvement, too, the idol of the age. 
Is fed with many a victim. Lo, he comes! 
Th' omnipotent magician, Brown, appears! 
Down falls the venerable pile, th' abode 
Of our forefathers — a grave whisker'd race, 
But tasteless. Springs a palace in its stead, 
But in a distant spot ; where more expos'd 
It may enjoy th' advantage of the north. 
And aguish east, till time shall have transform'd 
Those naked acres to a shelt'ring grove. 
He speaks. The lake in front becomes a lawn ; 
Woods vanish, hills subside, and valleys rise : 
And streams, as if created for his use. 
Pursue the track of his directing wand. 
Sinuous or straight, now rapid and now slow, 
Now murm'ring soft, now roaring in cascades — 
E'en as he bids ! The enraptur'd owner smiles. 
'Tis finish'd, and yet, finish'd as it seems 
Still wants a grace, the loveliest it could show, 
A mine to satisfy th' enormous cost. 
Drain'd to the last poor item of his wealth. 
He sighs, departs, and leaves th' accomplish'd plan 
That he has touch'd, retouch'd many a long day 
Labour'd, and many a night pursu'd in dreams, 
Just when it meets his hopes, and proves the 
Heav'n 



THE TASK. 117 

He wanted, for a wealthier to enjoy '. 
And now perhaps the glorious hour is come, 
When, having no stake left, no pledge l' endear, 
Her int'rests, or that gives her sacred cause 
A moment's operation on his love, 
He burns with most intense and flagrant zeal 
To serve his country. Ministerial grace 
Deals him out money from the public chest ; 
Or, if that mine be shut, some private purse 
Supplies his need with a usurious loan, 
To be refunded duly, when his vote 
Well-manag'd shall have earn'd its worthy price. 
O innocent, compar'd with arts like these. 
Crape, and cock'd pistol, and the whistling ball 
Sent through the traveler's temples! He that finds 
One drop of Heav'n's sweet mercy in his cup, 
Can dig, beg, rot, and perish, well content. 
So he may wrap himself in honest rags 
At his last gasp : but could not for a world 
Fish up his dirty and dependent bread 
From pools and ditches of the commonwealth, 
Sordid and sick'ning at his own success. 

Ambition, avarice, penury, incurr'd 
By endless riot, vanity, the lust 
Of pleasure and variety, despatch 
As duly as the swallows disappear, 
The world of wand'ring knights and squires to 

town. 
London engulfs them all ! The shark is there, 
And the shark's prey ; the spendthrift, and the 

leech 
That sucks him : there the sycophant, and he 



118 THE TASK. 

Who, with bareheaded and obsequious bows 
Begs a warm office, doom'd to a cold jail 
And groat per diem, if his patron frown, 
The levee swarms, as if in golden pomp 
Were character'd on ev'ry statesman's door, 
" Battered and bankrupt fortunes mended hereJ* 
These are the charms that sully and eclipse 
The charms of nature. 'Tis the cruel gripe, 
That lean, hard-handed Poverty inflicts, 
The hope of better things, the chance to win. 
The wish to shine, the thirst to be amus'd, 
That at the sound of Winter's hoary wing 
Unpeople all our countries of such herds 
Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, loose, 
And wanton vagrants, as make London, vast 
And boundless as it is, a crowded coop. 

O thou resort and mart of all the earth, 
Checker'd with all complexions of mankind, 
And spotted with all crimes ; in whom I see 
Much that I love, and more that I admire, 
And all that I abhor; thou freckled fair. 
That pleasestand yet shockest me ! I can laugh, 
And I can weep, can hope and can despond 
Feel wrath and pity, when I think on thee ! 
Ten righteous would have sav'd a city once, 
And thou hast many righteous. — Well for thee— 
That salt preserves thee ; more corrupted else, 
And therefore more obnoxious, at this hour, 
Than Sodom in her day had pow'r to be. 
For whom God heard his Abr'ham plead in vain. 



THE TASK 

BOOK IV. 



THE WINTER EVENING. 

ARGUMENT OF THK FOURTH BOOK. 

The post comes in— The newspaper is read— The World 
contemplated at a distance— Address to Winter— The 
rural amusements of a winter evening compared with 
the fashionable ones— Address to evening— A brown 
study— Fall of snow in the evening— The wagoner— A 
poor family piece— The rural thief— Public houses— 
The multitude of them censured —The farmer's daugh- 
ter: what she was,— what she is— The simj)licity of 
country manners almost lost — Causes of the change — 
Desertion of the country by the rich— Neglect of the 
magistrates— The militia principally in fault— The new 
recruit and his transformation— Kellection on the bodies 
corporate— The love of rural objects natural to all, and 
never to be totally extinguished. 



Hark ! 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge, 
That with its wearisome but needful length 
Bestrides the wintry flood ; in which the moon 
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright : — 
He comes, the herald of a noisy world, 
With spatier'd boots, sirapp'd waist, and frozen 
locks, 

119 



120 THE TASK. 

News from all nations Inmb'ring at his back. 
True to his charge, the close-pack'd load behind, 
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern 
Is to conduct it to the destin'd inn ; 
And having dropp'd th' expected bag, pass on. 
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch. 
Cold and yet cheerful : messenger of grief 
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some ; 
To him indifTrent whether grief or joy. 
Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks, 
Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet. 
With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks 
Fast as the periods from his fluent quill, 
Or charg'd with am'rous sighsof absent swains, 
Or nymphs responsive, equally afTect 
His horse and him, unconscious of them all. 
But O, th' important budget! usher'd in 
With such heart-shaking music, who can say 
What are its tidings ? have our troops awak'd? 
Or do they still, as if with opium drugg'd. 
Snore to the murmurs of the Atlantic wave ? 
Is India free ? and does she wear her plum'd 
And jewel'd turban with a smile of peace. 
Or do we grind her still ? The grand debate. 
The popular harangue, the tart reply. 
The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit, 
And the loud laugh — I long to know them all; 
I burn to set th' imprisoned wranglers free. 
And give ihem voice and utt'rance once again. 
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast. 
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round. 
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn 
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups, 



THE TASK. 121 

That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, 
So let us welcome peaceful ev'ning in. 
Not such his ev'ning, who with shining face 
Sweats in the crowded theatre, and, squeezed 
And bor'd with elbow points through both his 

sides, 
Outscolds the ranting actor on the stage : 
Nor his, who patient stands till his feet throb, 
And his head thumps, to feed upon the breath. 
Of patriots, bursting with heroic rage, 
Or placemen, all tranquillity and smiles. 
This folio of four pages happy work ! 
Which not e'en critics criticise ; that holds 
Inquisitive attention, while I read. 
Fast bound in chains of silence, which the fair. 
Though eloquent themselves, yet fear to break ; 
What is it, but a map of busy life. 
Its fluctuations, and its vast concerns? 
Here runs the mountainous and craggy ridge, 
That tempts Ambition. On the summit see 
The seals of office glitter in his eyes ; 
He climbs, he pants, he grasps them! At his heels, 
Close at his heels, a demagogue ascends, 
And with a dext'rous jerk soon twists him down, 
And wins them, but to loose them in his turn. 
Here rills of oily eloquence, in soft 
Meanders lubricate the course they take ; 
The modest speaker is asham'd and griev'd, 
T' engross a moment's notice ; and yet begs, 
Begs a propitious ear for his poor thoughts^ 
However trivial, all that he conceives. 
Sweet bashfulness ; it claims at least this praise: 
The dearth of information and good sense 



122 THE TASK. 

That it foretells us always comes to pass. 
Cataracts of declamation thunder here ; 
There forests of no meaning spread the page, 
In which all comprehension wanders, lost ; 
While fields of pleasantry amuse us there 
With merry descants on a nation's woes. 
The rest appears a wilderness of strange 
But gay confusion ; roses for the cheeks, 
And lilies for the brows of faded age, 
Teeth for the toothless, ringlets for the bald, 
Heav'n, earth, and ocean, plundered of their 

sweets, 
Nectareous essences, Olympian dews, 
Sermons, and city feasts, and fav'rite airs, 
.^therial journeys, submarine exploits, 
And Katterfelto, with his hair on end 
At his own wonders, wond'ring for his bread. 

'Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat, 
To peep at such a world ; to see the stir 
Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd ; 
To hear the roar she sends through all her gates 
At a safe distance, where the dying sound 
Falls a soft murmur on th' uninjur'd ear. 
Thus sitting, and surveying thus at ease 
The globe and its concerns, I seem advanc'd 
To some secure and more than mortal height, 
That liberates and exempts me from them all. 
It turns submitted to my view, turns round 
With all its generations ; I behold 
The tumult, and am still. The sound of war 
Has lost its terrors ere it reaches me ; 
Grieves, but alarms me not. I mourn the pride 
And av'rice that make man a wolf to man ; 



THE TA.SK. 123 

Hear the faint echo of those brazen throats, 
By which he speaks the language of his heart, 
And sigh, but never tremble at the sound. 
He travels and expatiates, as the bee 
From flow'r to flow'r, so he from land to land; 
The manners, customs, policy, of all 
Pay contribution to the store he gleans ; 
He sucks intelligence in ev'ry chme, 
And spreads the honey of his deep research 
At his return — a rich repast for me. 
He travels, and I too. I tread his deck, 
Ascend his topmast, through his peering eyes 
Discover countries; with a kindred heart 
Suffer his woes, and share in his escapes ; 
While fancy, hke the finger of a clock, 
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home. 

O Winter, ruler of th' inverted year, 
Thy scatter'd hair with sleet hke ashes fiU'd, 
Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks 
Fring'd with a beard made white with other snows 
Than those of age, thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds, 
A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne 
A sliding car, indebted to no wheels, 
But urg'd by storms along its slipp'ry way, 
I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st, 
And dreaded as thou art ! Thou hold'st the sun 
A pris'ner in the yet undawning east, 
Short'ning his journey between morn and noon, 
And hurrying him, impatient of his stay, 
Down to the rosy west : but kindly still 
Compensating his loss with added hours 
Of social converse and instructive ease, 
And gath'ring, at short notice, in one group 



124 THE TASK. 

The family dispers'd, and fixing thought, 
Not less dispers'd by daylight and its cares. 
I crown thee king of intimate delights, 
Fireside enjoyments, homeborn happiness, 
And all the comforts that the lowly roof 
Of undisturb'd Retirement, and the hours 
Of long, uninterrupted ev'ning know. 
No rattling wheels stop short before these gates, 
No powder'd pert proficient in the art 
Of sounding an alarm, assaults these doors 
Till the street rings ; no stationary steeds 
Cough their own knell, while, heedless of the 

sound, 
The silent circle fan themselves, and quake ; 
But here the needle plies its busy task, 
The pattern grows, the well-depicted flow'r, 
Wrought patiently into the snowy lawn. 
Unfolds its bosom ; buds, and leaves, and sprigs, 
And curling tendrils, gracefully dispos'd, 
Follow the nimble finger of the fair ; 
A wreath, that cannot fade, or flow'rs that blow 
With most success when all besides decay. 
The poet's or historian's page by one 
Made vocal for th' amusement of the rest: 
The sprightly lyre, whose treasure of sweet 

sounds 
The touch from many a tembling chord shakes 

out ; 
And the clear voice symphonious, yet distinct, 
And in the charming strife triumphant still, 
Beguile the night, and set a keener edge 
On female industry : the threaded steel 
Flies swiftly, and unfelt the task proceeds. 



THE TASK. I2fl 

The volume clos'd, the customary rites 
Of the last meal commence. A Roman meal; 
Such as the mistress of the world once found 
Delicious, when her patriots of high note, 
Perhaps by moonlight, at their humble doors, 
And under an old oak's domestic shade, 
Enjoy'd, spare feast ! a radish and an egg. 
Discourse ensues, not trivial, yet not dull, 
Nor such as with a frown forbids the play 
Of fancy, or proscribes the sound of mirth: 
Nor do we madly, like an impious World, 
Who deem religion frenzy, and the God 
That made them an intruder on their joys, 
Start at his awful name, or deem his praise 
A jarring note. Themes of a graver tone 
Exciting oft our gratitude and love. 
While we retrace with Mem'ry's pointing wand, 
That calls the past to our exact review, 
The dangers we have 'scaped, the broken snare, 
The disappointed foe, deliv'rance found 
Unlook'd for, life preserv'd, and peace restor'd— 
Fruits of omnipotent eternal love. 
O ev'nings worthy of the gods! exclaim'd 
The Sabine bard. O ev'nings, I reply, 
More to be priz'd and coveted than yours, 
As more illumin'd, and with nobler truths. 
That T, and mine, and those we love, enjoy. 

Is Winter hideous in a garb like this ? 
Needs he the tragic fur, the smoke of lamps. 
The pent-up breath of an unsav'ry throng, 
To thaw him into feeling, or the smart 
And snappish dialogue, that flippant wits 
Call comedy, to prompt him with a smile ? 



126 THE TASK. 

The self-complacent actor,' when he views 
(Stealing a sidelong glance at a full house) 
The slope of faces, from the floor to th' roof 
(As if one master spring controU'd them all,) 
Relax'd into a universal grin, 
Sees not a count' nance there, that speaks of joy 
Half so refin'd or so sincere as ours. 
Cards were superfluous here, with all the tricks 
That idleness has ever yet contriv'd 
To fill the void of an unfurnish'd brain, 
To palliate dulness, and give time a shove. 
Time, as he passes us, has a dove's wing, 
Unsoil'd, and swift, and of a silken sound ; 
But the world's Time is Tiine in masquerade ! 
Theirs, should I paint him, has his pinions fledg'd, 
With motley plumes ; and where the peacock 

shows 
His azure eyes, is tinctur'd black and red 
With spots quadrangular of diamond form, 
Ensanguined hearts, clubs typical of strife. 
And spades, the emblem of untimely graves. 
What should be, and what was an hourglass once« 
Becomes a dicebox, and a billiard mace 
Well does the work of his destructive scythe. 
Thus deck'd, he charms a World whom Fashion 

blinds 
To his true worth, most pleas'd when idle most : 
Whose only happy, are their idle hours. 
E'en misses, at whose age their mothers wore 
The backstring and the bib, assume the dress 
Of womanhood, sit pupils in the school 
Of card devoted Time, and, night by night, 
riac'd at some vacant corner of the board, 



^ THE TASK. 127 

Ivcarn cv'ry trick, and soon play all the game. 
But truce with censure. Roving as I rove, 
Where shall I find an end, or how proceed ? 
As he that travels far oft turns aside, 
To view some rugged rock or mould'ring tow'r, 
Which seen, delights him not; then coming 

home. 
Describes and prints it, that the world may know 
How far he went for what was nothing worth: 
So I, with brush in hand and pallet spread, 
With colours mix'd for afar difTrent use, 
Paint cards, and dolls, and ev'ry idle thing, 
That fancy finds in her excursive flights. 

Come, Ev'ning, once again, season of peace, 
Return, sweet Ev'ning, and continue long! 
Methinks I see thee in the streaky west, 
With matron step slow-moving, while the Night 
Treads on thy sweeping train; one hand employ'd 
In letting fall the curtain of repose 
On bird and beast, the other charg'd for man 
With sweet oblivion of the cares of day : 
Not sumptuously adorn'd, nor needing aid, 
Like homely-featur'd Night, of clust'ring gems ; 
A star or two, just twinkling on thy brow, 
SuflSces thee ; save that the moon is thine 
No less than hers, noc worn indeed on high 
With ostentatious pageantry, but set 
With modest grandeur in thy purple zone, 
Resplendent less, but of an ampler round. 
Come then, and thou shalt find thy votary calm, 
Or make me so. Composure is thy gift ; 
And, whether I devote thy gentle hour, 
To books, to music, or the poet's toil ; 



128 THE TASK. , 

To weaving nets for bird-alluring fruit ; 
Or twining silken threads round ivory reels, 
When they command whom man was born to 

please ; 
I slight thee not, but make thee welcome still. 
Just when our drawing-rooms begin to blaze 
With lights, by clear reflection multiplied 
From many a mirror, in which he of Gath, 
Goliah, might have seen his giant bulk 
Whole without stooping, tow' ring crest and all, 
My pleasures, too, begin. But me perhaps 
The glowing hearth may satisfy awhile 
With faint illumination, that uplifts 
The shadows to the ceiling, there by fits 
Dancing uncouthly to the quiv'ring flame, 
Not undelightful is an hour to me 
So spent in parlour twilight : such a gloom 
Suits well the thoughtful or unthinking mind, 
The mind contemplative, with some new theme 
Pregnant, or indispos'd alike to all. 
Laugh ye, who boast your more mercurial 

pow'rs, 
That never feel a stupor, know no pause, 
Nor need one ; I am conscious, and confess 
Fearless, a soul that does not always think. 
Me oft has Fancy, ludicrous and wild, 
Sooth'd with a waking dream of houses, tow'rs, 
Trees, churches, and strange visages, expresa'd 
In the red cinders, while with poring eye 
I gaz'd, myself creating what I saw. 
Nor less amus'dhave T quiescent watch'd 
The sooty films that play upon the bars 
Pendulous, and foreboding in the view 



THE TASK. 129 

Of superstition prophesying still. 

Thougii still deceiv'd, some stranger's near 

approach. 
'Tis thus the understanding takes repose 
In indolent vacuity of thought, 
And sleeps, and is refresh' d. Meanwhile the face 
Conceals the mood lethargic with a mask 
Of deep deliberation, as the man 
Were task'd to his full strength, absorb' d and 

lost. 
Thus oft, reclin'd at ease, T lose an hour 
At ev'ning, till at length the freezing blast 
That sweeps the bolted shutter, summons home 
The recollected pow'rs ; and snapping short 
The glassy threads,with which the Fancy weaves 
Her brittle toils, restores me to myself. 
How calm is my recess ; and how the frost, 
Raging abroad, and the rough wind, endear 
The silence and the warmth enjoy'd within! 
I saw the woods and fields at close of day, 
A variegated show ; the meadows green, 
Though faded ; and the lands, where lately wav'd 
The golden harvest, of a mellow brown, 
Upturn'd so lately by the forceful share. 
I saw far off the weedy fallows smile 
With verdure not unprofitable, graz'd 
By flocks, fast feeding, and selecting each 
His fav'rite herb : while all the leafless groves 
That skirt th' horizon wore a sable hue. 
Scarce notic'd in the kindred dusk of eve. 
To-morrow brings a change, a total change ! 
Which even now, though silently perform'd, 

9 



130 THE TASK. 

And slowly, and by most unfelt, the face 
Of universal nature undergoes. 
Fast falls a fleecy show'r ; the downy flakes 
Descending, and with never-ceasing lapse, 
Soft alighting upon all below, 
Assimilate all objects. Earth receives 
Gladly the thick' ning mantle ; and the green 
And tender blade, that fear'd the chilling blast, 
Escapes unhurt beneath so warm a veil. 

In such a world, so thorny, and where none 
Finds happiness unblighted, or, if found, 
Without some thistly sorrow at its side ; 
It seems the part of wisdom, and no sin 
Against the law of love, to measure lots 
Wuh less distinguish' d than ourselves ; that thus 
We may with patience bear our moderate ills, 
And sympathize with others suflf'ring more. 
Ill fares the trav'ller now, and he that stalks 
In pond'rous boots beside his reeking team. 
The wain goes heavily, impeded sore 
By congregated loads adhering close 
To the clogg'd wheels ; and in its sluggish pace 
Noiseless appears a moving hiM of snow. 
The toihng steeds expand the nostril wide, 
While ev'ry breath, by respiration strong 
Forc'd downward, is consolidated soon 
Upon their jutting chests. He, form'd to bear 
The pelting brunt of the tempestuous night, 
With half shut eyes, and pucker'd cheeks and 

teeth 
Presented bare against the storm, plods on. 
One hand secures his hat, save when with both 



THE TASK. 131 

He brandishes his pUant length of whip, 
Resounding oft, and never heard in vain. 
O happy ; and in my account denied 
That sensibihty of pain with which 
Refinement is endur'd, thrice happy thou ! 
Thy frame, robust and hardy, feels indeed 
The piercing cold, but feels it unimpair'd. 
The learn' d finger never need explore 
Thy vig'rous pulse ; and the unhealthful east. 
That breathes the spleen, and searches ev'ry 

bone 
Of the infirm, is wholesome air to thee. 
Thy days roll on exempt from household care ; 
Thy wagon is thy wife ; and the poor beasts, 
That drag the dull companion to and fro. 
Thine helpless charge, dependent on thy care. 
Ah, treat them kindly; rude as thou appear' st, 
Yet show that thou hast mercy ! which the great, 
With needless hurry whirl'd from place to place, 
Humane as they would seem, not always show. 

Poor, yet industrious, modest, quiet, neat, 
Such claim compassion in a night like this, 
And have a friend in ev'ry feeling heart. 
Warm'd, while it lasts, by labour, all day long 
They brave the season, and yet find at eve, 
III clad, and fed but sparely, time to cool. 
The frugal housewife trembles when she lighta 
Her scanty stock of brushwood blazing clear, 
But dying soon, like all terrestrial joys. 
The few small embers left she nurses well; 
And, while her infant race, with outspread hands 
And crowded knees, sit cow'ring o'er the sparks, 
Retires, content to quake, so they be warm'd. 



132 THE TASK. 

The man feels least, as more inur'd than she 
To winter, and the current in his veins 
JVIore briskly mov'd by his severer toil ; 
Yet he too finds his own distress in theirs. 
The taper soon extinguish'd, which I saw 
Dangled along at the cold finger's end 
Just when the day declin'd: and the brown loaf 
Lodg'd on the shelf half eaten without sauce 
Of sav'ry cheese, or butter, costlier still ; 
Sleep seems their only refuge : for, alas ! 
Where penury is felt the thought is chain'd, 
And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few! 
With all this thrift they thrive not. All the care, 
Ingenious Parsimony takes, but just 
Saves the small inventory, bed, and stool, 
Skillet, and old carv'd chest, from public sale. 
They live, and live without extorted alms 
From grudging hands : but other boast have 

none. 
To sooth their honest pride, that scorns to beg, 
Nor comfort else, but in their mutual love. 
I praise you much, ye meek and patient pair, 
For ye are worthy ; choosing rather far 
A dry but independent crust, hard earn'd, 
And eaten with a sigh, than to endure 
The rugged frowns and insolent rebuffs 
Of knaves in office, partial in the work 
Of distribution; lib'ral of their aid 
To clam'rous Importunity in rags. 
But ofttimes deaf to suppliants, who would blush 
To wear a tatter'd garb, however coarse, 
Whom famine cannot reconcile to filth : 
These ask with painful shyness, and, refus'd 



THE TASK. 133 

Because deserving, silently retire ! 

But be ye of good courage ! Time itself 

Shall much befriend you. Time shall give 

increase ; 
And all your numerous progeny, well train'd. 
But helpless, in few years shall find their hands, 
And labour too. Meanwhile ye shall not want 
What, conscious of your virtues, we can spare. 
Nor what a wealthier than ourselves may send. 
I mean the man, who, when the distant poor 
Need help, denies them nothing but his name. 
But poverty with most, who whimper forth 
Their long complaints, is self-inflicted wo ; 
The effect of laziness or sottish waste. 
Now goes the nightly thief prowling abroad 
For plunder ; much solicitous how best 
He may compensate for a day of sloth 
By works of darkness and nocturnal wrong. 
Wo to the gard'ners pale, the farmer's hedge, 
Plash'd neatly, and secur'd with driven stakes 
Deep in the loamy bank. Uptorn by strength, 
Resistless in so bad a cause, but lame 
To better deeds, he bundles up the spoil. 
An ass's burden, and, when laden most 
And heaviest, light of foot, steals fast away. 
Nor does the bordered hovel better guard 
The well-stack' d pile of riven logs and roots 
From his pernicious force. Nor will he leave 
Unwrench'd the door, however well secur'd, 
Where Canticleer amidst his haram sleeps 
In unsuspecting pomp. Twitch' d from the perch, 
He gives the princely bird, with all his wives, 



134 THE TASK. 

To his voracious bag, strug-gling in vain, 
And loudly wond'ring at the sudden change. 
Nor this to feed his own. 'Twere some excuse 
Did pity of their suff rings warp aside 
His principle, and tempt him into sin 
For their support, so destitute. But they 
Neglected, pine at home ; themselves, as more 
Expos'd than others, with less scruple made 
His victims, robb'd of their defenceless all. 
Cruel is all he does. 'Tis quenchless thirst 
Of ruinous ebriety, that prompts 
His ev'ry action, and imbrutes the man. 
O for a law to noose the villain's neck 
Who starves his own ; who persecutes the blood 
He gave them in his children's veins, and hates 
And wrongs the woman he has sworn to love ! 
Pass where we may, through city or through 
town. 
Village or hamlet, of this merry land, 
Though lean and beggar'd, every twentieth pace, 
Conducts th' unguarded nose to such a whiff 
Of stale debauch, forth-issuing from the sties 
Thatlawhaslicens'd,a? makes Temp'rancereeL 
There sit, involv'd and lost in curling clouds 
Of Indian fume, and guzzling deep, the boor, 
The lackey, and the groom ; the craftsman there 
Takes a Lethean leave of all his toil ; 
Smith, cobbler, joiner, he that plies the shears, 
And he that kneads the dough ; all loud alike, 
All learned and all drunk ! the fiddle screams 
Plaintive and piteous, as it wept and wail'd 
Its wasted tones and harmony unheard, 



THE TASK. 135 

Fierce the dispute, whate'er the theme; while she, 
Fell Discord, arbitress of" such debate, 
Percii'd on the signpost, holds with even hand 
Her undecisive scales. In this she lays 
A weight of ignorance ; in that, of pride ; 
And smiles delighted with the eternal poise. 
Dire is the frequent curse, and its twin sound. 
The cheek, distending oath, not to be prais'd 
As ornamental, musical, polite, 
Like those which modern senators employ, 
Whose oath is rhet'ric, and who swear for fame ! 
Behold the schools, in which plebeian minds, 
Once simple, are initiated in arts 
Which some may practise with politer grace, 
But none with readier skill! — 'Tis here they 

learn 
The road that leads from competence and peace 
To indigence and rapine ; till at last 
Society, grown weary of the load, 
Shakes her encumber'd lap, and casts them out. 
But censure profits little ; vain th' attempt 
To advertise in verse a public pest, 
That, hke the filth with which the peasant feeds 
His hungry acres, stinks, and is of use. 
Th' excise is fatten' d with the rich result 
Of all this riot ; and ten thousand casks, 
For ever dribbling out their base contents, 
Touch'd by the Midas finger of the state, 
Bleed gold for mmisters to sport away. 
Drink, and be mad then ; 'tis your country bids! 
Gloriously drunk, obey th' important call ! 
Her cause demands th' assistance of your throats; 



136 THE TASK. 

Ye all can swallow, and she asks no more. 

Would I had fall'n upon those happier days 
That poets celebrate : those golden times, 
And those Arcadian scenes that Maro sings, 
And Sidney, warbler of" poetic prose. 
Nymphs were Dianas then, and swauis had hearts 
That felt their virtues : Innocence, it seems, 
From courts dismiss'd, found shelter in the groves; 
The footsteps of simplicity, impress'd 
Upon the yielding herbage, (so they sing.) 
Then were not all efiac'd ; then speech profane, 
And manners profligate, were rarely found, 
Observ'd as prodigies, and soon reclaim'd. 
Vain wish ! those days were never ; airy dreams 
Sat for the picture : and the poet's hand, 
Imparting substance to an empty shade, 
Impos'd a gay delirium for a truth. 
Grant it : I still must envy them an age 
That favour' d such a dream : in days like these 
Impossible when Virtue is so scarce. 
That to suppose a scene where she presides 
Is tramontane, and stumbles all belief. 
No: we are polish'd now. The rural lass, 
Whom once her virgin modesty and grace. 
Her artless manners, and her neat attire, 
So dignified, that she was hardly less 
Than the fair shepherdess of old romance. 
Is seen no more. The character is lost ! 
Her head, adorn'd with lappets pinn'd aloft, 
And ribands streaming gay, superbly rais'd, 
And magnified beyond all human size. 
Indebted to some smart wig- weaver's hand 



THE TASK. 137 

For more than half the tresses it sustains : 
Her elbows ruffled, and her tot t' ring form 
III propp'd upon French heels; she might be 

deem'd 
(But that the basket dangling on her arm 
Interprets her more truly) of a rank 
Too proud for dairy work, or sale of eggs- 
Expect her soon with fooiboy at her heels, 
No longer blushing for her awkward load, 
Her train and her umbrella all her care ! 

The town has ting'd the country ; and the stain 
Appears a spot upon a vestal's robe, 
The worse for what it soils. The fashion runs 
Down into scenes still rural ; but, alas, 
Scenes rarely grac'd with rural manners now ! 
Time was when in the pastoral retreat 
Th' unguarded door was safe ; men did not watch 
T' invade another's right, or guard their own. 
Then sleep was undisturbed by fear, unscar'd 
By drunken bowlings; and the chilling tale 
Of midnight murder was a wonder heard 
With doubtful credit, told to frighten babes. 
But farewell now to unsuspicious nights, 
And slumbers unalarm'd ! Now, ere you sleep, 
See that your polish'd arms be prim'd with care, 
And drop the night-bolt; — ruffians are abroad; 
And the first larum of the cock's shrill throat 
May prove a trumpet, summoning your ear 
To horrid sounds of hostile feet within. 
E'en daylight has its dangers ; and the M'alk 
Through pathless wastes and woods, unconcious 

once 



138 THE TASK. 

Of Other tenants than melodins birds, 
Or harmless flocks, is hazardous and bold. 
Lamented change ! to which full many a cause 
Invet'rate, hopeless of a cure, conspires. 
The course of human things from good to ill, 
From ill to worse, is fatal, never fails. 
Increase of pow'r begets increase of wealth; 
Wealth luxury, and luxury excess ; 
Excess, the scrofulous and itchy plague, 
That seizes first the opulent, descends 
To the next rank contagious, and in time, 
Taints downward all the graduated scale 
Of order, from the chariot to the plough. 
The rich, and they that have an arm to check 
The license of the lowest in degree, 
Desert their office ; and themselves, intent 
On pleasure, haunt the capital, and thus 
To all the violence of lawless hands 
Resign the scenes their presence might protect. 
Authority herself not seldom sleeps. 
Though resident, and witness of the wrong. 
The plump convivial parson often bears 
The magisterial sword in vain, and lays 
His rev'rence and his worship both to rest 
On the same cushion of habitual sloth. 
Perhaps timidity restrains his arm ; 
When he should strike he trembles,andsets free, 
Himself enslav'd by terror of the band — 
Th' audacious convict whom he dares not bind. 
Perhaps, though by profession ghostly pure, 
He, too, may have his vice, and sometimes prove 
Less dainty than becomes his grave outside 



THE TASK. 139 

In lucrative concerns. Examine well 
His milk-white hand ; the palm is hardly clean- 
But here and there an ugly smutch appears. 
Foh ! 'twas a bribe that left it : he has touch' d 
Corruption. Whoso seeks an audit here 
Propitious, pays his tribute, game or fish, 
Wild fowl or venison : and his errand speeds. 

But faster far, and more than all the rest, 
A noble cause, which none, who bears a spark 
Of public virtue, ever wish'd remov'd. 
Works the deplor'd and mischievous effect. 
'Tis universal soldiership has stabb'd 
The heart of merit in the meaner class. 
Arms, through the vanity and brainless rage 
Of those that bear them, in whatever cause, 
Seem most at variance with all moral good, 
And incompatible with serious thought. 
The clown, the child of nature, without guile, 
Blest with an infant's ignorance of all 
But his own simple pleasures ; now and thenj 
A wrestling match, a foot-race, or a fair; 
Is balloted, and trembles at the news : 
Sheepish he doffs his hat, and mumbling swears 
A bible oath to be whate'er they please, 
To do he knows not what. The task perform'd, 
That instant he becomes the sergeant's care, 
His pupil, and his torment, and his jest. 
His awkward gait, his introverted toes. 
Bent knees, round shoulders, and dejected looks. 
Procure him many a curse. By slow degrees. 
Unapt to learn, and form'd of stubborn stuff, 
He yet by slow degrees puts off himself, 



140 THE TASK. 

Grows conscious of a change, and likes it well: 
He stands erect : his slouch becomes a walk ; 
He steps right onward, martial in his air, 
His form and movement; is as smart above 
As meal and larded locks can make him ; wears 
His hat, or his plum'd helmet, with a grace ; 
And, his three years of heroship expir'd. 
Returns indignant to the slighted plough. 
He hates the field, in which no fiiis or drum 
Attends him ; drives his cattle to a march ; 
And sighs for the smart comrades he has left. 
'Twere well if his exterior change were ail- 
But with his clumsy port the wretch has lost 
His ignorance and harmless manners too. 
To swear, to game, to drink ; to show at home 
By lewdness, idleness, and sabbath breach, 
The great proficiency he made abroad ; 
T' astonish, and to grieve his gazing friends; 
To break some maiden's and his mother's heart ; 
To be a pest where he was useful once ; 
Are his sole aim, and all his glory, now. 

Man in society is like a flow'r 
Blown in its native bed ; 'tis there alone 
His faculties, expanded in full bloom, 
Shine out ; there only reach their proper use. 
But man, associated and leagued with man 
By regal warrant or self-joined by bond 
For int'rest sake, or swarming into clans 
Beneath one head for purposes of war, 
Like flow'rs selected from the rest, and bound 
And bundled close to fill some crowded vase, 
Fades rapidly, and, by compression marr'd, 



THE TASK. 141 

Contracts defilement not to be endur'd. 

Hence charter'd boroughs are such public plagues; 

And burghers, men immaculate perhaps 

In all their private functions, once combin'd, 

Become a loathsome body, only fit 

For dissolution, hurtful to the main. 

Hence merchants, unimpeachable of sin 

Against the charities of domestic hfe, 

Incorporated, seem at once to lose 

Their nature ; and, disclaiming all regard 

For mercy and the common rights of man, 

Build factories with blood, conducting trade 

At the sword's point, and dying the white robe 

Of innocent commercial Justice red. 

Hence, too, the field of glory, as the world 

Misdeems it, dazzled by its bright array, 

With all its majesty of thundering pomp, 

Enchanting music, and immortal wreaths. 

Is but a school, where thoughtlessness is taught 

On principle, where foppery atones 

For folly, gallantry for every vice. 

But slighted as it is, and by the great 
Abandon'd, and, which still I more regret, 
Infected with the manners and the modes 
It knew not once, the country wins me still.. 
I never fram'd a wish, or form'd a plan. 
That fiatler'd me with hopes of earthly bliss, 
But there I laid the scene. There early stray'd 
My fancy, ere yet liberty of choice 
Had found me, or the hope of being free. 
My very dreams were rural ; rural too 
The first-born efforts of my youthful muse, 



142 THE TASK. 

Sportive and jingling her poetic bells, 

Ere yet her ear was mistress of their pow'rs. 

No bard could please me but whose lyre was tun'd 

To Nature's praises. Heroes and their feats 

Fatigu'd me, never weary of the pipe 

Of Tityrus, assembling, as he sang, 

The rustic throng beneath his fav'rite beech. 

Then Milton had indeed a poet's charms : 

New to my taste, his Paradise surpass'd 

The struggling efforts of my boyish tonsfue 

To speak, its excellence. I danc'd for joy. 

I marvelled much that, at so ripe an age 

As twice seven years, his beauties had then 

first 
Engag'd my wonder; and admiring still. 
And still admiring, with regret suppos'd 
The joy half lost, because not sooner found. 
There, too, enamour'd of the life I lov'd, 
Pathetic in its praise, in its pursuit 
Determin'd and possessing it at last. 
With transports such as favour'd lovers feel, 
I studied, priz'd, and wish'd that I had known. 
Ingenious Cowley ! and, though now reclaim'd 
By modern lights from an erroneous taste, 
I cannot but lament thy splendid wit 
Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools. 
I still revere thee, courtly though retir'd ; 
Though stretch'd at ease in Chertsey's silent 

bow'rs, 
Notunemploy'd ; and finding rich amends 
For a lost world in solitude and verse. 
Tis born with all : The love of Nature's works 



THE TASK. 143 

Is an ingredient in the compound man, 

Infus'd at the creation of the kind. 

And, though ih' Almighty Maker has throughout 

Discriminated, each from each, by strokes 

And touches of his hand, with so much art 

Diversified, that two were never found 

Twins at all points — yet this obtains in all, 

That all discern a beauty in his works, 

And all can taste them : minds that have been 

form'd 
And tutor'd with a relish more exact, 
But none without some relish, none unmov'd. 
It is a flame that dies not even there, 
Where nothing feeds it: neither business, crowds, 
Nor habits of luxurious city life. 
Whatever else they smother of true worth 
In human bosoms, quench it or abate. 
The villas, with which London stands begirt, 
Like a swarth Indian with his belt of beads 
Prove it. A breath of unadult'rate air, 
The glimpse of a green pasture, how they cheer 
The citizen, and brace his languid frame .' 
E'en in the stifling bosom of the town 
A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms 
That sooth the rich possessor ; much consol'd, 
That here and there some sprigs of mournful 

mint, 
Of nightshade, or valerian, grace the well 
He cultivates. These serve him with a hint 
That nature lives ; that sight-refreshing green 
Is still the liv'ry she delights to wear, 
Though sickly samples of the exhub'rant whole. 



144 THE TASK. 

What are the casements lin'd with creeping 

herbs, 
The prouder sashes fronted with a range 
Of orange, myrtle, or the fragrant weed, 
The Frenchman's darling?* are they not all 

proofs, 
That man, immur'd in cities, still retains 
His inborn inextinguishable thirst 
Of rural scenes, compensating his loss 
By supplemental shifts, the best he may ? 
The most unfurnish'd with the means of life, 
And they, that never pass their brick-wall 

bounds. 
To range the fields, and treat their lungs with 

air. 
Yet feel the burning instinct ; over head 
Suspend their crazy boxes planted thick. 
And water'd duly. There the pitcher stands 
A fragment, and the spoutless teapot there ; 
Sad witnesses how close-pent man regrets 
The country, with what ardour he contrives 
A peep at Nature, when he can no more. 

Hail, therefore, patroness of health and ease, 
And contemplation, heart-consoling joys. 
And harmless pleasures in the throng'd abode 
Of multitudes unknown ! hail, rural life! 
Address himself who will to the pursuit 
Of honours, or emoluments, or fame ; 
I shall not add myself to such a chase, 
Thwart his attempts, or envy his success. 

♦ Mignionette. 



THE TASK. 145 

Some must be great. Great offices will have 
Great talents. And God gives to ev'ry man 
Tiie virtue, temper, understanding, taste, 
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall 
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill. 
To the deliv'rer of an injur'd land 
He gives a tongue t' enlarge upon a heart 
To feel, and courage to redress his wrongs; 
To m-onarchs dignity ; to judges sense ; 
To artists ingenuity and skill ; 
Tome, an unambitious mind, content 
In the low vale of hfe, that early felt 
A wish for ease and leisure, and ere long 
Found here that leisure and that ease I wish'd. 
10 



THE TASK. 

BOOK V. 



THE WINTER MORNING WALK. 



ARGUMENT OF THE FIFTH BOOK. 
A frosty morning— The fodderi ng of cattle— The woodman 
and his dog— The poultry— Whimsical effects of a frost 
at a waterfall -The empress of Russia's palace of ice- 
Amusements of monarchs— War, one of them— Wars, 
whence— And whence monarchy— The evils of it- 
English and French loyalty contrasted— The Bastile, 
and a prisoner there — Liberty the chief recommenda- 
tion of this country — Modern patriotism questionable, 
and why— The perishable nature of the best human in- 
stitutions—Spiritual liberty not perishable— The slavish 
state of man by nature— Deliver him, Deist, if you can 
— Grace must do it— The respective merits of patriots 
and martyrs stated — Their different treatment— Happy 
freedom of the man whom grace makes free— His re- 
lish of the works of God— Address to the Creator. 

'Tis morning; and the sun, with ruddy orb 
Ascending, fires th' horizon ; while the clouds 
That crowd away before the driving wind, 
More ardent as the disk emerges more, 
146 



, THE TASK. 147 

Resemble most some city in a blaze, 

Seen through the leafless wood. liis slanting 

ray 
Slides ineffectual down the snowy vale, 
And, tinging all with his own rosy hue, 
From ev'ry herb and ev'ry spiry blade 
Stretches a length of shadow o'er the field. 
Mine spindling into longitude immense, 
In spite of gravity, and sage remark 
That I myself am but a fleeting shade, 
Provokes me to a smile. With eye askance, 
I view the muscular proportion'd limb 
Transform' d to a lean shank. The shapeless 

pair, 
As they design'd to mock me, at my side. 
Take step for step ; and, as I near approach 
The cottage, walk along the plasler'd wall, 
Prepost'rous sight ! the legs without the man. 
The verdure of the plain lies buried deep 
Beneath the dazzling deluge ; and the bents, 
And coarser grass, upspearing o'er the rest, 
Of late unsightly and unseen, now shine 
Conspicuous, and in bright apparel clad. 
And, fledg'd with icy feathers, nod superb. 
The cattle mourn in corners, where the fence 
Screens them, and seem half petrified to sleep 
In unrecumbent sadness. There they wait 
Their wonted fodder; not like hung'ring man, 
Fretful if unsupplied ; but silent, meek, 
And patient of the slow-paced swain's delay. 
He from the stack carves out the accustom'd 

load. 



148 THE TASK. 

Deep-plunging, and again deep-plunging oft. 
His broad keen knife into the solid mass ; 
Smooth as a wall the upright remnant stands, 
"With such undeviating and even force 
He severs it away ; no needless care, 
Lest storm should overset the leaning pile 
Deciduous, or its own unbalanc'd weight. 
Forth goes the woodman, leaving unconcern'd 
The cheerful haunts of man ; to wield the axe, 
And drive the wedge, in yonder forest drear, 
From mprn to eve his solitary task. 
Shaggy, and lean, and shrewd, with pointed ears 
And tail cropp'd short, half lurcher and half 

cur — 
His dog attends him. Close behind his heel 
Now creeps he slow; and now, with many a 

frisk 
Wide-scamp'ring, snatches up the drifted snow 
With iv'ry teeth, or ploughs it with his snout ; 
Then shakes his powder'd coat, and barks for 

joy. 
Heedless of all his pranks, the sturdy churl 
Moves right toward the mark; nor stops for 

aught, 
But now and then with pressure of his thumb 
T' adjust the fragrant charge of a short tube, 
That fumes beneath his nose : the trailing cloud 
Streams far behind him, scenting all the air. 
Now from the roost, or from the neighb'ring 

pale, 
Where diligent to catch the first faint gleam 
Of smiling day, they gossip' d side by side, 



THE TASK. 149 

Come trooping at the housewife's well known 

call 
The feather'd tribes domestick. Half on wing. 
And half on foot, they brush the fleecy flood, 
Conscious and fearful of too deep a plunge. 
The sparrows peep, and quit the shelt'ring eaves, 
To seize the fair occasion ; well ihey eye 
The scatter'd grain, and thievishly resolv'd 
T' escape th' impending famine, often scar'd 
As oft return — a pert voracious kind. 
Clean riddance quickly made, one only care 
Remains to each, the search of sunny nook, 
Or shed impervious to the blast. Resign'd 
To sad necessity, the cock foregoes 
His wonted strut ; and, wading at their head 
With vvell-consider'd steps, seems to resent 
His aller'd gait, and stateliness retrench'd. 
How find the myriads, that in summer cheer 
The hills and valleys with their ceaseless songs. 
Due sustenance, or where subsist they now ? 
Earth yields them naught; th' imprison'd worm 

is safe 
Beneath the frozen clod ; all seeds of herbs 
Lie cover' d close ; and berry-bearing thorns, 
That feed the thrush, (whatever some suppose,) 
Afford the smaller minstrels no supply. 
The long-protracted rigour of the year 
Thins all their num'rous flocks. In chinks and 

holes 
Ten thousand seek an unmolested end, 
As instinct prompts ; self-buried ere they die. 
The very rooks and daws forsake the fields, 



150 THE TASK. 

Where neither grub, nor root, nor earth-nut, 

now 
Repays their labour more; and perch'd aloft 
By the way-side, or stalking in the path. 
Lean pensioners upon the trav'ller's track, 
Pick up their nauseous dole, though sweet to 

them, 
Of voided pulse or half-digested grain. 
The streams are lost amid the splendid blank, 
O'erwhelming all distinction. On the flood, 
Indurated and fix'd, the snowy weight 
Lies undissolvV ; while silently beneath, 
And unperceiv'd, the current steals away. 
Not so where, scornful of a check, it leaps 
The mill-dam, dashes on the restless wheel, 
And wantons in the pebbly gulf below : 
No frost can bind it there : its utmost force 
Can but arrest the light and smoky mist, 
Thai in its fall the liquid sheet throws wide. 
And see where it has hung the embroider'd 

banks 
With forms so various, that no pow'rs of art, 
The pencil, or the pen, may trace the scene ! 
Here glitt'ring turrets rise, upbearing high, 
(Fantastick misarrangement !) on the roof 
Large growth of what may seem the sparkling 

trees 
And shrubs of fairy land. The crystal drops 
That trickled down the branches, fast congeal'd 
Shoot into pillars of pellucid length, 
And prop the pile they but adorn' d before. 
Here grotto within grotto safe defies 



THE TASK. 151 

The sunbeam ; there, emboss'd and fretted wild, 
The growing wonder takes a thousand shapes 
Capricious, in which fancy seeks in vain 
The hkeness of some object seen before. 
I'hus Nature works as if to mock at Art, 
And in defiance of her rival pow'rs; 
By these fortuitous and random strokes 
Performing such inimitable feats, 
As she with all her rules can never reach. 
Less worthy of applause, though more admir'd, 
Because a novelty, the work of man, 
Imperial mistress of the fur clad Russ, 
Thy most magioificent and mighty freak. 
The wonder of the North. No forest fell 
When thou wouldst build ; no quarry sent its 

stores, 
T' enrich thy walls: but thou did'st hew the floods 
And make thy marble of the glassy wave. 
In such a palace Aristeeus found 
Cyrene, when he bore the plaintive tale 
Of his lost bees to her maternal ear : 
In such a palace poetry might place 
The armory of Winter ; where his troops. 
The gloomy clouds, find weapons, arrowy sleet, 
Skin-piercing volley, blossom-bruising hail, 
And snow, that often blinds the traveler's course, 
And wraps him in an unexpected tomb. 
Silently as a dream the fabrick rose ; 
No sound of hammer or of saw was there : 
Ice upon ice, the well-adjusted parts 
Were soon conjoin'd, nor other cement ask'd 
Than water interfus'd, to make them one. 



152 THE TASK. 

Lamps gracefully dispos'd, and of all hues, 

Illumin'd ev'ry side : a wat'ry light 

Gleam'd through the clear transparency, that 

seem'd 
Another moon new ris'n, or meteor fall'n 
From Heav'n to Earth, of lambent flame serene 
So stood the brittle prodigy; though smooth 
And slipp'ry the materials, yet frost-bound 
Firm as a rock. Nor wanted aught within, 
That royal residence might well befit, 
For grandeur or for use. Long wavy wreaths 
Of flow'rs that fear'd no enemy but warmth, 
Blush'd on the pannels. Mirror needed none 
Where all was vitreous ; but in order due 
Convivial table and commodious seat 
(What seem'd at least commodious seat) were 

there. 
Sofa, and couch, and high-built throne august, 
The same lubricity was found in all, 
And all was moist to the warm touch ; a scene 
Of evanescent glory, once a stream, 
And soon to slide into a stream again. 
Alas I 'twas but a mortifying stroke 
Ofundesign'd severity, thatglanc'd, 
(Made by a monarch,) on her own estate, 
On human grandeur and the courts of kings. 
*Twas transient in its nature, as in show 
'Twas durable ; as worthless, as it seem'd 
Intrinsically precious ; to the foot 
Treach'rous and false ; it smil'd^ and it was cold. 
Great princes have great play-things. Some 

have play'd 



THE TASK. 153 

At hewing mountains into men, and some 
At building human wonders mountain-high. 
Some have amus'd the dull, sad years of life, 
(Life spent in indolence, and therefore sad,) 
With schemes of monumental fame ; and sought 
By pyramids and mausolean pomp. 
Short liv'd themselves, t' immortalize their boneSt 
Some seek diversion in the tented field, 
And make the sorrows of mankind their sport. 
But war's a game, which, were their subjects 

wise, 
Kings would not play at. Nations would do well, 
T' extort their truncheons from the puny hands 
Of heroes, whose infirm and baby minds 
Are gratified with mischief; and who spoil, 
Because men suffer it, their toy, the world. 

When Babel was confounded, and the great 
Confed'racy of projectors wild and vain 
Was split into diversity of tongues, 
Then, as a shepherd separates his flock, 
These to the upland, to the valley those, 
God drove asunder, and assign'd their lot 
To all the nations. Ample was the boon 
He gave them, in its distribution fair 
And equal ; and he bade them dwell in peace. 
Peace was awhile their care ; they plough'd, and 

sow'd, 
And reap'd their plenty without grudge or strife. 
But violence can never longer sleep 
Than human passions please. Tn every heart 
Are sown the sparks that kindle fiery war ; 
Occasion needs but fan them, and they blaze. 



154 THE TASK. 

Cain had already shed a brother's blood: 
The deluge wash'd it out : but left unquench'd 
The seeds of murder in the breast of man. 
Soon by a righteous judgment in the line 
Of his descending progeny was found 
The first artificer of death ; the shrewd 
Contriver, who first sweated at the forge, 
And forc'd the blunt and yet unbloodied steel 
To a keen edge, and made it bright for war. 
Him, Tubal nam'd, the Vulcan of old times. 
The sword and falchion their inventor claim ; 
And the first smith was the first murd'rer's son. 
His art surviv'd the waters ; and ere long, 
When man was multiplied and spread abroad 
In tribes and clans, and had begun to call 
These meadows and that range of hills his own, 
The tasted sweets of property begat 
Desire of more ; and industry in some, 
T' improve and cultivate their just demesne, 
Made others covet what they saw so fair. 
Thus war began on Earth : these fought for spoil, 
And those in self-defence. Savage at first 
The onset, and irregular. At length 
One eminent above the rest for strength, 
For stratagem, for courage, or for all, 
Was chosen leader ; him they served in war. 
And him in peace, for sake of warlike deeds, 
Rev'rence no less. Who could with him compare? 
Or who so worthy to control themselves, 
As he, whose prowess had subdu'd their foes? 
Thus war, affording field for the display 
Of virtue, made one chief, whom times of peace, 



THE TASK. 155 

Which have their exigencies too, and call 
For skill in goverment, at length made king. 
King was a name too proud for man to wear 
With modesty and meekness ; and the crowa 
So dazzling in their eyes, who set it on. 
Was sure t' intoxicate the brows it bound ; 
It is the abject property of most, 
That, being parcel of the common mass, 
And destitute of means to raise themselves, 
They sink, and settle lower than they need.] 
They know not what it is to feel within 
A comprehensive faculty, that grasps 
Great purposes with ease, that turns and wields, 
Almost without an effort, plans too vast 
For their conception, which they cannot move. 
Conscious of impotence they soon grow drunk 
With gazing, when they see an able man 
Step forth to notice ; and, besotted thus. 
Build him a pedestal, and say, " Stand there, 
" And be our admiration and our praise." 
They roll themselves before him in the dust, 
Then most deserving in their own account, 
When most extravagant in his applause, 
As if, exalting him, they rais'd themselves. 
Thus by degrees, self-cheated of their sound 
And sober judgment, that he is but a man, 
They demi-deify and fume him so. 
That in due season he forgets it too. 
Inflated and astrut with self conceit, 
He gulps the windy diet ; and ere long, 
Adopting their mistake, profoundly thinks 
The world was made in vain, if not for him./ 



156 THE TASK. 

Thenceforth they are his cattle ; drudges, born 
To bear his burdens, drawing in his gears. 
And sweating in his service, his caprice 
Becomes the soul that animates them all. 
He deems a thousand, or ten thousand lives 
Spent in the purchase of renown for him. 
An easy reck'ning: and they think the same. 
Thus kings were first invented, and thus kings 
Were burnish'd into heroes, and became 
The arbiters of this terraqueous swamp ; 
Storks among frogs, that have but croak'd and 

died. 
Strange, that such folly, as hfts bloated man 
To eminence, fit only for a god. 
Should ever drivel out of human lips. 
E'en in the cradled weakness of the world ! 
Still stranger much, that, when at length mankind 
Had reach'd the sinewy firmness of their youth, 
And could discriminate and argue well 
On subjects more mysterious, they were yet 
Babes in the cause of freedom, and should fear 
And quake before thegods themselves had made: 
But above measure strange, that neither proof 
Of sad experience, nor examples set 
By some whose patriot virtvie has prevail'd, 
Can even now, when they are grown mature 
In wisdom, and with philosophick deeds 
Familiar, serve t' emancipate the rest ! 
Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone 
To rev'rence what is ancient, and can plead 
A course of long observance for its use, 
That even servitude^the worst of ills, 



THE TASK. 157 

Because deliver'd down from sire to son, 

Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing. 

But is it tit, or can it bear the shock. 

Of rational discussion, that a man, 

Compounded and made up hke other men 

Of elements tumuUuous, in whom lust 

And folly in as ample measure meet 

As in the bosoms of the slaves he rules, 

Should be a despot absolute, and boast 

Himself the only freeman of his land ? 

Should, when he pleases, and on whom he will, 

Wage war, with any or with no pretence 

Of provocation giv'n, or wrong sustain'd, 

And force the beggarly last doit, by means 

That his own humour dictates, from the clutch 

Of poverty, that thus he may procure 

His thousands, weary of penurious life, 

A splendid opportunity to die ? 

Say ye, who (with less prudence than of old 

Jotham ascrib'd to his assembled trees 

In politick convention) put your trust 

I' th' shadow of a bramble, and, reclin'd 

In fancied peace beneath his dang'rous branch, 

Rejoice m him, and celebrate his sway. 

Where find ye passive fortitude? Whence springs 

Your self-denying zeal, that holds it good 

To stroke the prickly grievance, and to hang 

His thorns with streamers of continual praise ? 

We too are friends to loyalty. We love 

The king who loves the law, respects his bounds, 

And reigns content within them : him we serve 

Freely and with delight, who leaves us free : 



I9i8 THE TASK. 

But recollecting still that he is man, 
We trust him not too far. King though he be, 
And king in England too, he may be weak 
And vain enough to be ambitious still ; 
May exercise amiss his proper pow'rs, 
Or covet more than freemen choose to grant! 
Beyond that mark is treason. He is ours, 
T' administer, to guard, t' adorn the state 
But not to warp or change it. We are his, 
To serve him nobly in the common cause. 
True to the death ; but not to be his slaves. 
Mark now the diff'rence, ye that boast your love 
Of Kings, between your loyalty and ours. 
We love the man ; the paltry pageant, you : 
We the chief patron of the commonwealth ; 
You, the regardless author of its woes : 
We, for the sake of liberty, a king ; 
You, chains and bondage for a tyrant's sake : 
Our love is principle, and has its root 
In reason; is judicious, manly, free; 
Yours, a blind instinct, crouches to the rod, 
And licks the foot that treads it in the dust. 
Were kingship as true treasure as it seems, 
Sterling, and worthy of a wise man's wish, 
I would not be a king to be belov'd 
Causeless, and daub'd with undiscerning praise, 
Where love is mere attachment to the throne. 
Not to the man who fills it as he ought. 

Whose freedom is by suff'rance, and at will 
Of a superiour, he is never free. 
Who lives, and is not weary of a life 
Expos' d to manacles, deserves them well. 



THE TASK. 159 

The state that strives for liberty, though foil'd, 

And forc'd to abandon what she bravely sought, 

Deserves at least applause for her attempt, 

And pity for her loss. But that's a cause 

Not often unsuccessful : pow'r usurp'd 

Is weakness when oppos'd ; conscious of wrong, 

'Tis pusillanimous and prone to flight. 

But slaves, that once conceive the glowing 

thought 
Of freedom, in that hope itself possess 
All that the contest calls for; spirit, strength, 
The scorn of danger, and united hearts ; 
The surest presage of the good they seek.* 
Then shame to manhood, and opprobrious 
more 
To France than all her losses and defeats, 
Old or of later date, by sea or land. 
Her house of bondage, worse than that of old 
Which God avcng'd on Pharaoh — the Bastile ; 
Ye horrid tow'rs, th' abode of broken hearts: 
.Ye dungeons, and ye cages of despair. 
That monarchs have supplied from age to age 
With musick, such as suits their sov'reign ears— 
The sighs and groans of miserable men ! 
There's not an English heart that would not leap 
To hear that ye were fall'n at last ; to know 



♦The author hopes that he shall not be censured for un- 
necessary warmth upon so interesting a subject. He is 
aware, that it is become almost fashionable, to stigmatize 
such sentiments as no better than eiTiply declamation ; 
but it is an ill symptom, and peculiar to modern limes. 



160 THE TASK. 

That e'en our enemies, so oft employ'd 

In forging chains for us, themselves are free. 

For he who values, Liberty, confines 

His zeal for her predominence within 

No narrow bounds ; her cause engages him 

Wherever pleaded. 'Tis the cause of man. 

There dwell the most forlorn of human kind, 

Immur'd though unaccus'd, condemn'd untried, 

Cruelly spar'd, and hopeless of escape. 

There, hke the visionary emblem seen 

By him of Babylon, hfe stands a stump, 

And, filleted about with hoops of brass, 

Still lives, though all his pleasant boughs are 

gone. 
To count the hour-bell and expect no change ; 
And ever as the sullen sound is heard, 
Still to reflect, that, though a joyless note 
To him whose moments all have one dull pace, 
Ten thousand rovers in the world at large 
Account it musick ; that it summons some 
To theatre, or jocund feast, or ball ; 
The wearied hireling finds it a release 
From labour ; and the lover, who has chid 
Its long delay, feels ev'ry welcome stroke 
Upon his heart-strings, trembling with delight—* 
To fly for refuge from distracting thought 
To such amusements of ingenious wo 
Contrives, hard shifting, and without her tools— 
To read engraven on the mouldy walls, 
III stagg'ring types, his predecessor's tale, 
A sad memorial, and subjoin his own- 
To turn purveyor to an overgo rg'd 



THE TASK. 161 

And bloated spidor, till the pamper'd pest 
Is made familiar, watches his approach, 
Comes at his call, and serves him for a friend- 
To wear out time in numb' ring to and fro 
The studs that thick emboss his iron door ; 
Then downward and then upward, then aslant. 
And then alternate ; with a sickly hope 
By dint of change to give his tasteless task 
Some relish ; till the sum, exactly found 
In all directions, he begins again — 
O comfortless existence ! hemm'd around 
With woes, which who that suffers would not 

kneel 
And beg for exile, or the pangs of death ? 
That man should thus encroach on fellow man, 
Abridge him of his just and native rights, 
Eradicate him, tear him from his hold 
Upon th' endearments of domestick life 
And social, nip his fruitfulness and use, 
And doom him for perhaps a heedless word 
To barrenness, and sohtude, and tears, 
Moves indignation, makes the name of king, 
(Of king whom such prerogative can please) 
As dreadful as the Manichean god, 
Ador'd through fear, strong only to destroy. 

'Tis hberty alone, that gives the flow'r 
Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume ; 
And we are weeds without it. All constraint, 
Except what wisdom lays on evil men, 
Is evil : hurts the faculties, impedes 
Their progress in the road of science ; blinds 
The eyesight of Discovery ; and begets, 
11 



162 THE TASK. 

In those that suffer it, a sordid mind, 
Bestial, a meager intellect, unfit 
To be the tenant of man's noble fonn. 
Thee therefore still, blame-worthy as thou ar*^ 
With all thy loss of empire, and though squeez'd 
By publick exigence, till annual food 
Fails for the craving hunger of the state, 
Thee I account still happy, and the chief 
Among the nations, seeing thou art free ; 
My native nook of earth ! Thy ehme is rude^ 
Replete with vapours, and disposes much 
All hearts to sadness, and none more than mine; 
Thine unadulterate manners are less soft 
And plausible than social life requires. 
And thou hast need of discipline and art, 
To give thee what politer France receives 
From Nature's bounty — that humane address 
And sweetness, with which no pleasure is 
In converse, either starv'd by cold reserve. 
Or flush'd by fierce dispute, a senseless brawl. 
Yet, being free, I love thee : for the sake 
Of that one feature can be well content, 
Disgrac'd as thou hast been, poor as thou art. 
To seek no sublunary rest beside. 
But once enslav'd, farewell ! I could endure 
Chains no where patiently ; and chains at home. 
Where I am free by birthright, not at all. 
Then what were left of roughness in the grain 
Of British natures, wanting its excuse 
That it belongs to freemen, would disgust 
And shock me. I should then with double pain 
Feel all the rigour of thy fickle clime ; 



THE TASK. 163 

And, if I must bewail the blessing lost, 

For which our Hampdens and our Sidneys bled, 

I would at least bewail it under skies 

Milder, among a people less austere ; 

In scenes, which having never known me free, . 

Would not reproach me with the loss I felt. 

Do I forebode impossible events, 

And tremble at vain dreams ? Heav'n grant I 

may I 
But th' age of virtuous politicks is past, 
And we are deep in that of cold pretence. 
Patriots are grown too shrewd to be sincere. 
And we too wise to trust them. He that takes 
Deep in his soft credulity the stamp 
Design'd by loud declaimers on the part 
Of liberty, (themselves the slaves of lust,) 
Incurs derision for his easy faith 
And lack of knowledge, and with cause enough : 
For when was publick virtue to be found, 
Where private was not ? Can he love the whole, 
Who loves no part ? He be a nation's friend, 
Who is in truth the friend of no man there ? 
Can he be strenuous in his country's cause. 
Who slights the charities, for whose dear sake. 
That country, if at all, must be belov'd ? 

'Tis therefore sober and good men are sad 
For England's glory, seeing it wax pale 
And sickly, while herchampions wear their hearts 
So loose to private duty, that no brain 
Healthful and undisturb'd by factious fumes, 
Can dream them trusty to the gen'ral weal. 
Such were they not of old, whose temper'd blades 



164 THE TASK. 

Dispers'd the shackles of usurp'd control, 
And hew'd them link from link ; then Albion's 

sons 
Were sons indeed ; they felt a filial heart 
Beat high within them at a mother's wrongs; 
And, shining each in his domestick sphere, 
Shone brighter still, once call'd to publick view. 
'Tis therefore many, whose sequester'd lot 
Forbids their interference, looking on, 
Anticipate perforce some dire event ; 
And, seeing the old castle of the state, 
Thatpromis'd once more firmness, so assail'd, 
That all its tempest-beaten turrets shake, 
Stand motionless expectants of its fall. 
All has its date below ; the fatal hour 
Was register'd in Heav'd ere time began. 
We turn to dust, and all our mightiest works 
Die too : the deep foundations that we lay. 
Time ploughs them up, and not a trace remains. 
We build with what we deem eternal rock j 
A distant age asks where the fabric stood ; 
And in the dust, sifted and search'd in vain, 
The undiscoverable secret sleeps. 

But there is yet a hberty, unsung 
By poets, and by senators uprais'd, 
Which monarchs cannot grant, nor all the pow'ra 
Of Earth and Hell confed'rate take away : 
A hberty, which persecution, fraud, 
Oppression, prisons, have no pow'r to bind. 
Which whoso tastes can be enslav'd no more. 
'Tis hberty of heart deriv'd from Heav'n, 
Bought with his blood, who gave it to mankind, 



THE TASK. 165 

And seal'd with the same token. It is held 
By charter, and that charter sanction'd sure 
By th' unimpeachable and awful oath 
And promise of a God. His other gifts 
All bear the royal stamp that speaks them his, 
And are august I but this transcends them all. 
His other works, the visible display 
Of all-creating energy and might, 
Are grand, no doubt, and worthy of the word 
That, finding an interminable space 
Unoccupied, has fiU'd the void so well, 
And made so sparkhng what was dark before. 
But these are not his glory. Man, 'tis true, 
Smit with the beauty of so fair a scene, 
Might well suppose th' artificer divine 
Meant it eternal, had he not himself 
Pronounc'd it transient, glorious as it is, 
And, still designing a more glorious far, 
Doom'd it as insufficient for his praise. 
These therefore are occasional, and pass ; 
Form'd for the confutation of the fool, 
"Whose lying heart disputes against a God ; 
That office serv'd, they must be swept away, 
Not so the labours of his love : they shine 
In other heav'ns than these that we behold, 
And fade not. There is paradise that fears 
No forfeiture, and of its fruits he sends 
Large prelibation oft to saints below. 
Of these the first in order, and the pledge, 
And confident assurance of the rest. 
Is liberty ; a flight into his arms, 
Ere yet mortality's fine threads give way, 



166 THE TASK. 

A clear escape from tyrannising lust, 
And full immunity from penal wo. 

Chains are the portion of revolted man, 
Stripes, and a dungeon ; and his body serves 
The triple purpose. In that sickly, foul, 
Opprobrious residence, he finds them all. 
Propcnse his heart to idols, he is held 
In silly dotage on created things, 
Careless of their creator. And that low 
And sordid gravitation of his pow'rs 
To a vile clod, so draws him, with such force 
Resistless from the centre he should seek, 
That he at last forgets it. All his hopes 
Tend downward ; his ambition is to sink, 
To reach a depth profounder still, and still 
Profounder, in the fathomless abyss 
Of folly, plunging in pursuit of death. 
But ere he gain the comfortless repose 
He seeks, and acquiescence of his soul 
In Heav'n-renouncing exile, he endures— 
What does he not, from lusts oppos'd in vain. 
And self-reproaching conscience ? He foresees 
The fatal issue to his health, fame, peace, 
Fortune, and dignity ; the loss of all 
That can ennoble man and make frail life, 
Short as it is, supportable. Still worse, 
Far worse than all the plagues with which his 

sins 
Infect his happiest moments, he forbodes 
Ages of hopeless mis'ry. Future death. 
And death still future. Not a hasty stroke. 
Like that which sends him to the dusty grave : 



THE TASK. 167 

But unrepealable, enduring, death. 
Scripture is still a trumpet to his fears: 
What none can prove a forgery, may be true. 
What none but bad men wish exploded, must; 
That scruple checks hira. Riot is not loud 
Nor drunk enough to drown it. In the midst 
Of laughter his compunctions are sincere ; 
And he abhors the jest by which he shines- 
Remorse begets reform. His master- lust 
Falls first before his resolute rebuke, 
And seems dethron'd and vanquish' d. Peace 

ensues, 
But spurious and short hv'd : the puny child 
Of self-congratulating Pride begot 
On fancied Innocence. Again he falls, 
And fights again ; but finds, his best essay 
A presage ominous, portending still 
Its own dishonour by a worse relapse. 
Till Nature, unavailing Nature, foil'd 
So oft, and wearied in the vain attempt. 
Scoffs at her own performance. Reason now 
Takes part with appetite, and pleads the cause 
Perversely, which of late she so condemn'd ; 
With shallow shifts and old devices, worn 
And tatter'd in the service of debauch, 
Cov'ring his shame from his offended sight. 

" Hath God indeed giv'n appetites to man. 
And stor'd the earth so plenteously with means 
To gratify the hunger of his wish ; 
And doth he reprobate, and will he damn 
*I'he use of his own bounty ? makmg first 
So frail a kind, and then enacting laws 



168 THE TASK. 

So strict, that less than perfect must despair ? 
Falsehood ! which whoso but suspects oi' truth. 
Dishonours God, and makes a slave of man. 
Do they themselves, who undertake for hire 
The teacher's ofhce, and dispense at large 
Their weekly dole of edifying strains. 
Attend to their own music? have they faith 
In what, with such solemnity of tone 
And gesture, they propound to our belief? 
Nay — Conduct hath the loudest tongue. The 

voice 
Is but an instrument, on which the priest 
May play what tune he pleases. In the deed. 
The unequivocal, authentic deed. 
We find sound argument, we read th« heart." 
Such reas'nings (if that name must needs be- 
long 
T' excuses in which reason has no part) 
Serve to compose a spirit well inclin'd 
To live on terms of amity with vice. 
And sin without disturbpaice. Often urg'd , 
(As often as, hbidinous discom-se 
Exhausted, he resorts to solemn themes 
Of theological and grave import,) 
They gain at last his unreserv'd assent ; 
Till, harden' d his heart's temper in the forge 
Of lust, and on the anvil of despair. 
He slights the strokes of conscience. Nothing 

moves. 
Or nothing much, his constancy in ill ; 
Vain tamp'ring has but foster'd his disease; 
'Tis desp'rate, and he sleeps the sleep of death. 



THE TASK. 169 

Haste, now, philosopher, and set him free. 
Charm tlie deaf serpent wisely. Make him hear 
Of rectitude and fitness, moral truth 
How lovely, and the moral sense how sure, 
Consulted and obey'd, to guide his steps 
Directly to the first and only fair. 
Spare not in such a cause. Spend all the powers 
Of rant and rhapsody in virtue's praise; 
Be most subhmely good, verbosely grand, 
And with poetic trappings grace thy prose, 
Till it out-mantle all the pride of verse. — 
Ah, tinkling cymbal, and high sounding brass, 
Smitten in vain! such music cannot charm 
The eclipse, that intercepts truth's heav'nly 

beam 
And chills and darkens a wide wand'ring soul. 
The still small voice is wanted. He must speak, 
Whose word leaps forth at once to its effect ; 
Who calls for things that are not, and they come. 
Grace makes the slave a freeman. 'Tis a change 
That turns to ridicule the turgid speech 
And stately tone of moralists, who boast 
As if, like him of fabulous renown, 
They had indeed abihiy to smooth 
The shag of savage nature, and were each 
An Orpheus, and omnipotent in song; 
But transformation of apostate man 
From fool to wise, from earthly to divine, 
]s work for Him that made him. He alone, 
And he by means in philosophic eyes 
Trivial and worthy of disdain, achieves 
'I he wonder : humanizing what is brute 



170 THE TASK. 

In the lost kind, extracting from the lips 
Of asps their venom, overpow'ring strength 
By weakness, and hostility by love. 

Patriots have toil'd, and, in their country's 

cause 
Bled nobly ; and their deeds, as they deserve. 
Receive proud recompense. We give in charge 
Their names to the sweet lyre. Th' historic 

muse, 
Proud of the treasure, marches with it down 
To latest times ; and Sculpture, in her turn, 
Gives bond in stone and ever-during brass 
To guard them, and t' immortalize her trust: 
But fairer wreaths are due, though never paid, 
To those, who, posted at the shrine of Truth, 
Have fall'n in her defence. A patriot's blood, 
Well spent in such a strife, may earn indeed, 
And, for a time, ensure to his lov'd land 
The sweets of liberty and equal laws ; 
But martyrs struggle for a brighter prize, 
And win it with more pain. Their blood is shed 
In confirmation of the noblest claim — 
Our claim to feed upon immortal truth. 
To walk with God, to be divinely free. 
To soar, and to anticipate the skies. 
Yet few remember them. They liv'd unknown, 
Till persecution dragg'd them into fame. 
And chas'd them up to Heaven. Their ashes 

flew— 
No marble tells us whither. With their names 
No bard embalms and sanctifies his song: 
And history, so warm on meaner themes, 



THE TASK. 171 

Is cold on this. She execrates indeed 
The tyranny that doom'd them to the fire, 
But gives the glorious suff'rers little praise.* 

He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, 
And all are slaves beside. There's not a chain 
That hellish foes, confed'rate for his harm, 
Can wind around him, but he casts it off 
With as much ease as Samson his green withes. 
He looks abroad into the varied field 
Of nature, and though poor, perhaps, compar'd 
With those whose mansions glitter in his sight, 
Calls the delightful scenery all his own. 
His are the mountains, and the valleys his. 
And the resplendent rivers. His t' enjoy 
With a propriety that none can feel, 
But who, with filial confidence inspir'd, 
Can lift to heav'n an unpresumptuous eye, 
And smihng say — ' ' My Father made them all !'* 
Are they not his by a peculiar right, 
And by an emphasis of int'rest his, 
Whose eye they fill with tears of holy joy, 
Whose heart with praise, and whose exalted 

mind 
With worthy thoughts of that unwearied love, 
That plann'd, and built, and still upholds a world 
So cloth'd with beauty for rebellious man ? 
Yes — ye may fill your garners, ye that reap 
The loaded soil, and ye may waste much good 
In senseless riot ; but ye will not find 
In feast or in the chase, in song or dance, 

* See Hume. 



172 THE TASK. 

A liberty like his, who, unim peach' d 
Of usurpation, and to no man's wrong. 
Appropriates nature as his Father's work, 
And has a richer use of yours than you. 
He is indeed a freeman. Free by birth 
Of no mean city ; plann'd or ere the hills 
Were built, the fountiins open'd, or the sea, 
With all his roaring multitude of waves. 
His freedom is the same in ev'ry state; 
And no condition of this changeful life, 
So manifold in cares, whose ev'ry day 
Brings its own evil with it, makes it less : 
For he has wings, that neither sickness, pain, 
Nor penury, can cripple or confine. 
No nook so narrow, but he spreads them there 
With ease, and is at large. Th' oppressor holds 
His body bound ; but knows not what a range 
His spirit takes, unconscious of a chain ; 
And that to bind him is a vain attempt. 
Whom God delights in, and in whom He dwells., 
Acquaint thyself with God, if thou would'st 
taste 
His works. Admitted once to his embrace. 
Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before : 
Thine eye shall be instructed ; and thine heart, 
Made pure, shall rehsh with divine delight, 
Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought 
Brutes graze the mountain-top, with faces prone, 
And eyes intent upon the scanty herb 
It yields them : or, recumbent on its brow, 
Ruminate heedless of the scene outspread 
Beneath, beyond, and stretching far away 



THE TASK. 173 

From inland regions to the distant main. 
Man views it, and admires ; but rests content 
With what he views. Tiie landscape has his 

praise, 
But not its author. llHconcern'd who form'd 
The Paradise he sees, he finds it such, 
And such well pleas' d to find it, asks no more. 
Not so the ramd that has been touch' d from 

Heav'n, 
And in the school of sacred wisdom taught 
To read His wonders, in whose thought the 

world, 
Fair as it is, existed ere it was. 
Nor for its own sake merely, but for his 
Much more who fashion'd it, he gives it praise ; 
Praise that from earth resulting, as it ought. 
To earth's acknovvledg'dsov'reign, finds at once 
Its only just proprietor in Him. 
The soul that sees him, or receives sublim'd 
New faculties, or learns at least t' employ 
More worthily the powers she own'd before, 
Discerns in all things what, with stupid gaze 
Of ignorance, till then she overlook'd, 
A ray of heavenly light, gilding all forms 
Terrestrial in the vast and the minute ; 
The unambiguous footsteps of the God, 
Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing. 
And wheels his throne upon the rolUng worlds. 
Much conversant with Heaven, she often holds 
With those fair ministers of light to man, 
That fill the skies nightly with silent pomp, 



174 THE TASK. 

Sweet conference. Inquires what strains were 

they 
With which Heaven rang, when every star, in 

haste 
To gratulate the new-created earth, 
Sent forth a voice, and all the sons of God 
Shouted for joy. — " Tell me, ye shining hosts, 
That navigate a sea that knows no storms, 
Beneath a vault unsullied with a cloud, 
If from your elevation, whence ye view 
Distinctly scenes invisible to man, 
And systems, of whose birth no tidings yet 
Have reach'd this nether world, ye spy a race 
Favour'd as ours: transgressors from the womb 
And hasting to a grave, yet doom'd to rise, 
And to possess a brighter Heaven than yours ? 
As one, who, long detained on foreign shores, 
Pants to return, and when he sees afar 
His country's weather-bleach'd and batter'd 

rocks, 
From the green wave emerging, darts an eye 
Radiant with joy toward the happy land ; 
So I with animated hopes behold, 
And many an aching wish, your beamy fires, 
That show like beacons in the blue abyss, 
Ordain'd to guide th' embodied spirit home 
From toilsome life to never-ending rest. 
Love kindles as I gaze. I feel desires 
That give assurance of their own success, 
And that, infus'd from Heaven, must thither 

tend." 
So reads he Nature, whom the lamp of truth 



THE TASK. 175 

Illuminates. Thy lamp, mysterious Word .' 
Which whoso sees, no longer wanders lost, 
With intellects bemaz'd in endless doubt, 
But runs the road of wisdom. Thou hast built 
With means that wear not, till by thee employ'd. 
Worlds that had never been, hadst thou in 

strength 
Been less, or less benevolent than strong. 
They are thy witnesses, who speak thy pow'r 
And goodness infinite, but speak in ears 
That hear not, or receive not their report 
In vain thy creatures testify of thee. 
Till thou proclaim thyself. Theirs is indeed 
A teaching voice ; but 'tis the praise of thine, 
That whom it teaches it makes prompt to learn. 
And with the boon gives talents for its use. 
Till thou art heard, imaginations vain 
Possess the heart, and fables false as hell : 
Yet deem'd oracular, lure down to death 
The uninfbrm'd and heedless souls of men. 
We give to chance, blind chance, ourselves as 

bhnd, 
The glory of thy work ; which yet appears 
Perfect and unimpeachable of blame, 
Challenging human scrutiny, and prov'd 
Then skilful most when most severely judg'd. 
But chance is not ; or is not where thou reign'st ; 
Thy providence forbids that fickle pow'r 
(If pow'r she be, that works but to confound) 
To mix her wild vagaries with thy laws. 
Yet thus we dote, refusing while we can, 
Instruction, and inventing io ourselves 



176 THE TASK. 

Gods such as guilt makes welcome ; gods that 

sleep, 
Or disregard our follies, or that sit 
Amus'd spectators of this bustling stage. 
Thee we reject, unable to abide 
Thy purity, till pure as thou art pure, 
Made such by thee, we love thee for that cause, 
For which we shunn'd and hated thee before. 
Then we are free. Then liberty, like day. 
Breaks on the soul, and by a flash from heav'n 
Fires all the faculties with glorious joy. 
A voice is heard that mortal ears hear not, 
Till thou hast touch' d them; 'tis the voice of song, 
A loud Hosanna sent from all thy works ; 
Which he that hears it, with a shout repeats, 
And adds his rapture to the general praise ! 
In that blest moment. Nature, throwing wide 
Her veil opaque, discloses with a smile 
The author of hfr beauties, who, retir'd 
Behind his own creation, works unseen 
By the impure, and hears his pow'r denied: 
Thou art the source and centre of all minds, 
Their only point of rest, eternal Word ! 
From thee departing, they are lost, and rove 
At random, without honour, hope, or peace. 
From thee is all that sooths the Ufe of man, 
His high endeavour, and his glad success, 
His strength to suffer, and his will to serve. 
But O thou bounteous Giver of all good. 
Thou art of all thy gifts thyself the crown ! 
Give what thou canst, without thee we are poor, 
And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away. 



THE TASK. 

BOOK VI. 



THE WINTER WALK AT NOON. 



ARGUMENT OF THE SIXTH BOOK. 

Bells at a distance— Their effect— A fine noon in winter— 
A sheltered walk — Meditation better than books— Our 
fivmiliarity with the course of Nature makes it appear 
less wonderful than it is— The transformation that 
Spring effects in a shrubbery, d.escribed— A mistake 
concerning the course of Nature corrected— God main- 
tains it by an unremitted act— The amusements fash- 
ionable at this hour of the day reproved— Animals hap- 
py, a delightful sight— Origin of cruelty to animals — 
That it is a great crime proved from Scripture— That 
proof illustrated by a tale— A line drawn between the 
lawful and unlawful destruction of them— Their good 
and useful properties insisted on— Apologies for the en- 
comiums bestowed by the author on animals— Instances 
of man's extravagant praise of man— The groans of the 
creation shall have an end— A view takpn of the resto- 
ration of all thines— An invocation and an invitation 
of Him who shall bring it to pass— The retired man vin- 
dicated from the charge of uselessness— Conclusion 
12 177 



178 THE TASK. 

There is in souls a sympathy with sounds, 
And as the mind is pitch'd, the ear is pleas'd 
With melting airs or martial, brisk, or grave; 
Some chord in unison with what we hear 
Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies, 
How soft the music of those village bells. 
Falling at intervals upon the ear 
In cadence sweet, now dying all away, 
Now pealing loud again, and louder still, 
Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes on ! 
With easy force it opens all the cells 
Where Mem'ry slept. Wherever I have heard 
A kindred melody, the scene recurs, 
And with it all its pleasures and its pains. 
Such comprehensive views the spirit takes. 
That in a few short moments T retrace 
(As in a map the voyager his course) 
The windings of my way through many years. 
Short as in retrospect the journey seems, 
It seem'd not always short ; the rugged path, 
And prospect oft so dreary and forlorn, 
Mov'd many a sigh at its disheart'ning length. 
Yet feeling present evils, while the past 
Faintly impress the mind or not at all. 
How readily we wish time spent rcvok'd, 
That we might try the ground again, where once 
(Through inexperience as we now perceive) 
We miss'd that happiness we might have found ! 
Some friend is gone, perhaps his son's best 

friend ! 
A father, whose authority, in show 
When most severe, and must' ring all its force, 



rnE TASK. 179 

Was but the graver countenance of love ; 
Whose favour, hke the clouds of spring, might 

low'r. 
And utter now and then an awful voice, 
But had a blessing in its darkest frown, 
Threat'ning at once and nourishing the plant. 
We lov'd, but not enough, the gentle hand 
That rear'd us. At a thoughtless age, allur'd 
By ev'ry gilded folly, we renounced 
His shelt'ring side, and wilfully forewent 
That converse which we now in vain regret. 
How gladly would the man recall to hfe 
The boy's neglected sire ! a mother too, 
That softer friend, perhaps more gladly still. 
Might he demand them at the gates of death. 
Sorrow has, since they went, subdu'd and tam'd 
The playful humour : he could now endure, 
(Himself grown sober in the vale of tears,) 
And feel a parent's presence no restraint. 
But not to understand a treasure's worth, 
Till time has stol'n away the slighted good, 
Is cause of half the poverty we feel, 
And makes the World the wilderness it is. 
The few that pray at all, pray oft amiss. 
And, seeking grace t' improve the prize they 

hold. 
Would urge a wiser suit than asking more- 

The night was winter in its roughest mood ; 
The morning sharp and clear. But now at noon 
Upon the southern side of the slant hills, 
And where the woods fence off the northern 

blast, 



% 



180 THE TASK. 

The season smiles, resigning all its rage, 

And has the warmth of May. The vault is blue 

Without a cloud, and white without a speck 

The dazzling splendour of the scene below. 

Again the harmony comes o'er the vale ; 

And through the trees I view th' embattled 

tow'r, 
Whence all the music. I again perceive 
The soothing influence of the wafted strains, 
And settle in soft musings as I tread 
The walk, still verdant, under oaks and elms, 
Whose outspread branches overarch the glade. 
The roof, though movable through all its length 
As the wind sways it, has yet well suffic'd. 
And, intercepting in their silent fall 
The frequent flakes, has kept a path for me. 
No noise is here, or none that hinders thought 
The red-breast warbles still, but is content 
With slender notes, and more than half sup- 
press' d : 
Pleas'd with his solitude, and flitting light 
From spray to spray, where'er he rests he 

shakes 
From many a twig the pendent drops of ice, 
That tinkle in the wither' d leaves below. 
Stillness, accompanied with sounds so soft, 
Charms more than silence. Meditation here 
May think down hours to moments. Here the 

heart 
May give a useful lesson to the head, 
And Learning wiser grow without his books. 
Knowledge and Wisdom, far from being one, 



THE TASK. 181 

Have ofltimes no connexion. Knowledge dwells 
In heads replete with thoughts of other men ; 
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. 
Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, 
The mere materials with which Wisdom builds, 
Till smooth'd, and squar'd, and fitted to its 

place. 
Does but encumber whom it seems t' enrich. 
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much; 
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. 
Books are not seldom talismans and spells, 
By which the magic art of shrewder wits 
Hold an unthinking multitude enthrall' d. 
Some to the fascination of a name, 
Surrender judgment hood-wink'd. Some the 

style 
Infatuates, and through labyrinths and wilds 
Of error leads them, by a tune entranc'd. 
While sloth seduces more, too weak to bear 
The insupportable fatigue of thought. 
And swallowing, therefore, without pause or 

choice 
The total grist unsifted, husks and all. 
But tree and rivulets, whose rapid course 
Defies the check of winter, haunts of deer, 
And sheep-walks populous with bleating lambs, 
And lanes, in which the primrose ere her time 
Peeps through the moss, that clothes the haw- 
thorn root, 
Deceive no student. Wisdom there, and truth, 
Not shy, as in the world, and to be won 
By slow solicitation, seize at once 



182 THE TASK. 

The roving thought and fix it on themselves. 
What prodigies can povv'r divine perform 
More grand than it produces year by year, 
And all in sight of inattentive man ? 
Familiar with th' effect, we slight the cause, 
And in the constancy of Nature's course, 
The regular return of genial months, 
And renovation of a faded world, 
See nought to wonder at. Should God again. 
As once in Gibeon, interrupt the race 
Of th' undeviating and punctual sun, 
How would the world admire ! But speaks it lesa 
An agency divine, to make him know 
His moment when to sink and when to rise. 
Age after age, than to arrest his course ? 
All we behold is miracle ; but seen 
So duly, all is miracle in vain. 
Where now the vital energy, that mov'd 
While summer was, the pure and subtle lymph 
Through th' imperceptible meand'ring veins 
Of leaf and flow'r ? It sleeps; and th' icy 

touch 
Of unprolific winter has impress'd 
A cold stagnation on th' intestine tide. 
But let the months go round, a few short months, 
And all shall be restor'd. These naked shoots, 
Barren as lances, among which the wind 
Makes wintry music, sighing as it goes, 
Shall put their graceful foliage on again. 
And more aspiring, and with ampler spread, 
Shall boast new charms, and more than they 
have lost. 



THE TASK. 183 

Then each in its pecuHar honours clad, 

Shall publish even to the distant eye 

Its family and tribe. Laburnum, rich 

In streaming gold ; syringa, iv'ry pure ; 

The scentless and the scented rose ; this red 

And of a humbler growth, other* tall, 

And throwing up into the darkest gloom 

Of neighb'ring cypress, or more sable "yew, 

Her silver globes, hght as the foamy surf, 

That the wind severs from the broken wave ; 

The lilac, various in array, now white, 

Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set 

With purple spikes pyramidal, as if 

Studious of ornament, yet unresolv'd 

Which hue she most approv'd, she chose them 

all; 
Copious of flowers, the woodbine, pale and wan, 
But well compensating her sickly looks 
With never cloying odours, early and late ; 
Hypericum all bloom, so thick a swarm 
Of flowers, hke flies clothing her slender rods, 
That scarce a leaf appears ; mezereon, too. 
Though leafless, well-attir'd and thick beset 
With blushing wTcaths, investing every spray; 
Althaea with the purple eye ; the broom 
Yellow and bright, as buHion unalloy'd. 
Her blossoms ; and luxuriant above all 
The jasmine, throwing wide her elegant sweets, 
The deep dark green of whose unvarnish'd leaf 
Makes more conspicuous, and illumines more 

» The Guelder Rose. 



184 THE TASK. 

The bright profusion of her scatter'd stars.^ 
These have been, and these shall be in their 

day ; 
And all this uniform uncolour'd scene 
Shall be dismantled of its fleecy load, 
And flush into variety again. 
From dearth to plenty, and from death to life, 
Is Nature's progress, vi^hen she lectures man 
In heav'nly truth; evincing, as she makes 
The grand transition, that their lives and works 
A soul in all things, and that soul is God. 
The beauties of the wilderness are his. 
That makes so gay the solitary place, 
Where no eye sees them. And the fairer forms, 
That cultivation glories in, are his. 
He sets the bright procession on its way, 
And marshals all the order of the year ; 
He marks the bounds, which winter may not 

pass, 
And blunts his pointed fury ; in its case, 
Russet and rude, folds up the tender germ, 
Uninjur'd, with inimitable art ; 
And, ere one flow'ry season fades and dies, 
Designs the blooming wonders of the next. 

Some say that in the origm of things, 
When all creation started into birth, 
The infant elements receiv'd a law 
From which they swerv'd not since. That un- 
der force 
Of that controlling ordinance they move, 
And need not His immediate hand who first 
Prescrib'd their course, to regulate it now. 



THE TASK. 185 

Thus dream they, and contrive to save a God 
Th' encumbrance of his own concerns, and 

spare 
The great artificer of all that moves 
The stress of a continual act, the pain 
Of unremitted vigilance and care. 
As too laborious and severe a task. 
80 man, the molh, is not afraid, it seems, 
To span omnipotence, and measure might 
That knows no measure, by the scanty rule 
And standard of his own, that is to-day. 
And is not ere to-morrow's sun go down. 
But how should matter occupy a charge, 
Dull as it is, and satisfy a law 
So vast in its demands, unless impell'd 
To ceaseless service by a ceaseless force, 
And under pressure of some conscious cause ? 
The Lord of all, himself through all diffus'd, 
Sustains, and is the life of all that lives. 
Nature is but a name for an eflect, 
Whose cause is God. He feeds the secret fire. 
By which the mighty process is maintain' d, 
Who sleeps not, is not weary ; in whose sight 
Slow circling ages are as transient days ; 
Whose work is without labour ; whose designs 
No flaw deforms, no difficulty thwarts ; 
And whose beneficence no charge exhausts. 
Him blind antiquity profan'd, not serv'd. 
With self-taught rites, and under various names, 
Female and male, Pomona, Pales, Pan, 
And Flora, and Vertumnus ; peopUng earth 
With tutelary goddesses and gods, 



186 



THE TASK. 



That were not ; and commending as they would 
To each some province, garden, field, or grove. 
But all are under one. One spirit — His 
Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding 

brows — 
Rules universal nature. Not a flower 
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak, or stain, 
Of his unrivall'd pencil. He inspires 
Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues, 
And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes, 
In grains as countless as the seaside sands, 
The forms with which he sprinkles all the earth. 
Happy who walks with him ! whom what he 

finds 
Of flavour or of scent in fruit or flower, 
Of what he views of beautiful or grand 
In nature, from the broad majestic oak 
To the green blade that twinkles in the sun, 
Prompts with remembrance of a present God 
His presence, who made all so fair, perceiv'd, 
Makes all still fairer. As with him no scene 
Is dreary, so with him all seasons please. 
Though winter had been gone, had man been 

true 
And earth be punish'd for its tenant's sake, 
Yet not in vengeance ; as this smiling sky, 
So soon succeeding such an angry night, 
And these dissolving snows, and this clear 

stream 
Recov'ring fast its liquid music, prove. 

Who, then, that has a mind well strung and 
tuned 



THE TASK. 187 

To contemplation, and within his reach 
A scene so friendly to his fav'rite task, 
Would waste attention at the chequer'd board. 
His host of wooden warriors to and fro 
Marching and countermarching, with an eye 
As fLx'd as marble, with a forehead ridg'd 
And furrow' d into storms, and with a hand 
Trembling, as if eternity were hung 
In balance on his conduct of a pin ? 
Nor envies he aught more their idle sport, 
Who pant with application misapplied 
To trivial toys, and, pushing iv'ry balls 
Across a velvet level, feel a joy 
Akin to rapture, when the bauble finds ~ 
Its destin'd goal, of difficult access. 
Nor deems he wiser him, who gives his noon 
To miss, the mercer's plague from shop to shop 
Wand'ring, and litt'ring with unfolded silks 
The polish'd counter, and approving none, 
Or promising with smiles to call again. 
Nor him, who by his vanity seduc'd. 
And sooth'd into a dream, that he discerns 
The difT'rence of a Guido from a daub. 
Frequents the crowded auction : station'd there 
As duly as the Langford of the show, 
With glass at eye, and catalogue in hand, 
And tongue accomplish'd in the fulsome cant 
And pedantry that coxcombs learn with ease : 
Oft as the price-deciding hammer falls, 
He notes it in his book, then raps his box, 
Swears 'tis a bargain, rails at his hard fate, 
That he has let it pass — but never bids ! 



188 THE TASK. 

Here unmolested, through whatever sign 
The sun proceeds, I wander. Neither mist, 
For freezing sky nor sultry, checking me, 
Nor stranger intermeddling with my joy. 
E'en in the spring and playtime of the year. 
That calls the unwonted villager abroad 
With all her httle ones, a sportive train, 
To gather kingcups in the yellow mead. 
And prink their hair with daisies, or to pick 
A cheap but wholesome salad from the brook — 
These shades are all my own. The tim'rous hare, 
Grown so familiar with her frequent guest. 
Scarce shuns me; and the stock-dove, unalarm'd, 
Sits cooing in the pinetree, nor suspends 
His long love ditty for my near approach. 
Drawn from his refuge in some lonely elm, 
That age or injury has hollow'd deep, 
Where, on his bed of wool and matted leaves, 
He has outslept the winter, ventures forth. 
To frisk awhile, and bask in the warm sun, 
The squirrel, flippant, pert, and full of play ; 
He sees me, and at once, swift, as a bird, 
Ascends the neighb'ring beech ; there whisks 

his brush. 
And perks his ears, and stamps, and cries aloud, 
With all the prettiness of feign' d alarm. 
And anger insignificantly fierce. 

The heart is hard in nature, and unfit 
For human fellowship, as being void 
Of sympathy, and therefore dead alike 
To love and friendship both, that is not pleas'd 
With sight of animals enjoying life, 



THE TASK. 189 

Nor feels their happiness augment his own. 
The bounding fawn, that darts across the glade 
When none pursues, through mere delight of heart 
And spirits buoyant with excess of glee ; 
The horse as wanton, and almost as fleet, 
That skims the spacious meadow at full speed, 
Then stops, and snorts, and throwing high his 

heels, 
Starts to the voluntary race again ; 
The very kine that gambol at high noon, 
The total herd receiving first from one, 
That leads the dance, a summons to be gay, 
Though wild their strange vagaries, and uncouth 
Their efforts, yet resolv'd, with one consent, 
To.,give such act and utt' ranee as they may 
To ecstasy too big to be suppress'd — 
These, and a thousand images of bliss, 
With which kind Nature graces ev'ry scene, 
Where cruel man defeats not her design, 
Impart to the benevolent, who wish 
All that are capable of pleasure pleas'd, 
A far superior happiness to theirs, 
The comfort of a reasonable joy. 

Man scarce had ris'n, obedient to his call 
Who form'd him from the dust, his future grave, 
When he was crown'd as never king was since. 
God set the diadem upon his head. 
And angel choirs attended. Wond'ring stood 
The new-made monarch, while before him pass'd, 
All happy, and all perfect in their kind, 
The creatures, summon'd from their various 

haunts, 



190 THE TASK. 

To see their sov'reign, and confess his sway. 

Vast was his empire, absolute his pow'r, 

Or bounded only by a law, whose force 

'Twas his sublimest privilege to feel 

And own — the law of universal love. 

He rul'd with meekness, they obey'd with joy ; 

No cruel purpose lurk'd within his heart, 

And no distrust of his intent in theirs. 

So Eden was a scene of harmless sport, 

Where kindness on his part who rul'd the whole, 

Begat a tranquil confidence in all, 

And fear as yet was not, nor cause for fear. 

But sin marr'd all : and the revolt of man, 

That source of evils not exhausted yet, 

Was punish'd with revolt of his from him. 

Garden of God, how terrible the change 

Thy groves and lawns then witness'd ! Ev'ry 

heart, 
Each animal, of ev'ry name, conceiv'd 
A jealousy, and an instinctive fear, 
And, conscious of some danger, either fled 
Precipitate the loath'd abode of man. 
Or growl'd defiance in such angry sort, 
As taught him too to tremble in his turn. 
Thus harmony and family accord 
Were driv'n from Paradise ; and in that hour 
The seeds of cruelty, that since have swell'd 
To such gigantic and enormous growth. 
Were sown in human nature's fruitful soil. 
Hence date the persecution and the pain, 
That man inflicts on all inferior kinds, 
Regardless of their plaints. To make him sport. 



THE TASK. IM 

To gratify the frenzy of his wrath, 
Or his base gluttony, are causes good 
And just in his account, why bird and beast 
Should suffer torture, and the streams be died 
With blood of their inhabitants impal'd. 
Earth groans beneath the burden of a WEir 
Wag'd with defenceless innocence, while he, 
Not satisfied to prey on all around. 
Adds tenfold bitterness to death by pangs 
Needless, and first torments ere he devours. 
Now happiest they that occupy the scenes 
The most remote from his abhorr'd resort, 
Whom once, as delegate of God on earth. 
They fear'd, and as his perfeC. image, lov'd. 
The wilderness is theirs, with all its caves, 
Its hollow glens, its thickets, and its plains, 
Unvisited by man. There they are free, 
And howl and roar as likes them, uncontroU'd; 
Nor ask his leave to slumber or to play. 
Wo to the tyrant, if he dare intrude 
Within the confines of their wild domain : 
The lion tells him — I am monarch here — 
And if he spare him, spares him on the terms 
Of royal mercy, and through gen'rous scorn 
To rend a victim trembhng at his foot. 
In measure, as by force of instinct drawn 
Or by necessity constrain'd, they live 
Dependent upon man ; those in his fields, 
These at his crib, and some beneath his roof. 
They prove too often at how dear a rate 
He sells protection — Witness at his foot 
The spaniel dying for some venial fault 



192 THE TASK. 

Under dissection of the knotted scourge ; 
Witness the patient ox, with stripes and yells 
Driv'n to the slaughter, goaded, as he runs, 
To madness ; while the savage at his heels 
Laughs at the frantic suft''rer's fury, spent 
Upon the guiltless passenger o'erthrown. 
He too is witness, noblest of the train 
That wait on man, the flight-performing horse; 
With unsuspecting readiness he takes 
His murd'rer on his back, and, push'd all day 
With bleeding sides and Hanks that heave for life. 
To the far distant goal arrives and dies. 
So little mercy shows who needs so much ! 
Does law, so jealous in the cause of man, 
Denounce no doom on the delinquent ? None. 
He lives and o'er his brimming beaker boasts 
(As if barbarity were high desert,) 
Th' inglorious feat, and clamorous in praise 
Of the poor brute, seems wisely to suppose 
The honours of his matchless horse his own. 
But many a crime, deem'd innocent on earth, 
Is register' d in Heav'n ; and these no doubt. 
Have each their record, with a curse annex'd. 
Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, 
But God will never. When he charg'd the Jew 
T' assist his foe's down-fallen beast to rise ; 
And when the bush-exploring boy, that seiz'd 
The young, to let the parent bird go free ; 
Prov'd he cot plainly, that his meaner works 
Are yet his care, and have an inl'rest allj 
All, in the universal Father's love ? 
On Noah, and in him on all mankind, 



THK TASKi 193 

The charter was conferr'd by which v/e hold 

The flesh of animals in fee, and claim 

O'er all we feed on pow'r of life and death. 

But read the instrument, and mark it well : 

Th' oppression of a tyrannous control 

Can find no warrant there. Feed then, and 

yield, 
Thanks for thy food. Carnivorous, through sin, 
F^ed on the slain, but spare the living brute ! 

The Governor of all, himself to all 
So bomitiful, in whose attentive ear 
The unfledg'd raven and the lion's whelp 
Plead not in vain for pity on the pangs 
Of hunger unassuag'd, has interpos'd, 
Not seldom, his avenging ai'm, to smite 
Th' injurious trampler upon Nature's law, 
That claims forbearence even for a brute. 
He hates the hardness of a Balaam's heart; 
And, prophet as he was, he might not strike 
The blameless animal, without rebuke, 
On which he rode. Her opportune offence 
Sav'd him, or the unrelenting seer had died. 
He sees that human equity is slack 
To interfere, though m so just a cause : 
And makes the task his own. Inspiring dumb 
And helpless victims with a sense so keen 
Of injury, with such knowledge of their strength 
And such sagacity to take revenge. 
That oft the beast has seem'd to judge the man. 
An ancient, not a legendary tale, 
By one of sound intelligence rehears'd, 
(If such who plead for Providence may seem 
13 



194 THE TASK. 

In modern eyes,) shall make the doctrine clear. 

Where England, stretch' d towards the settmg 
sun, 
Narrow and long, o'erlooks the western wave, 
Dwelt young Misagathus ; a scorner he 
Ot God and goodness, atheist in ostent, 
Vicious in act, in temper savage-fierce. 
He journey'd : and his chance was, as he went, 
To join a trav'ller, of far different note, 
Evander, fam'd for piety, for years 
Deserving honour, but for wisdom more. 
Fame had not left the venerable man 
A stranger to the manners of the youth. 
Whose face, too, was familiar to his view. 
Their way was on the margin of the land. 
O'er the green summit of the rocks, whose base 
Beats back the roaring surge, scarce heard so 

high. 
The charity that warm'd his heart, was mov'd 
At sight of the man-monster. With a smile 
Gentle and affable, and full of grace, 
As fearful of offending whom he wish'd 
Much to persuade, he plied his ear with truths, 
Not hardly thunder'd forth or rudely press'd, 
But, like his purpose, gracious, kind, and sweet. 

"Anddostihon dream," th' impenetrable man 
Exclaim'd, " that me the lullabies of age, 
And fantasies of dotards, such as thou, 
Can cheat, or move a moment's fear in me ? 
Mark now the proof I give thee, that the brave 
Need no such aids as superstition lends 
To steel their hearts against the dread of death." 



THE TASK. 195 

He spoke, and to the precipice at hand 
Push'd with a madman's fury. Fancy shrinks^ 
And the blood thrills and curdles at the thought 
Of such a gulf as he designed his grave. 
But though the felon on his back could dare 
The dreadful leap, more rational, his steed 
Declin'd the death, and wheeling swiftly round. 
Or ere his hoof had press'd the crumbling verge, 
Baffled his rider, sav'd against his will. 
The frenzy of the brain may be redress'd 
By med'cine well applied, but without grace 
The heart's insanity admits no cure. 
Enrag'd the more, by what might have reform' d 
His horrible intent, again he sought 
Destruction, whh a zeal to be destroy'd, 
With sounding whip and rowels died in blood, 
But still in vain. The Providence that meant 
A longer date to the far nobler beast, 
Spar'd yet again th' ignobler for his sake. 
And now, his prowess prov'd, and his sincere 
Incurable obduracy evinc'd. 
His rage grew cool, and, pleas'd perhaps t' have 

earn'd 
So cheaply, the renown of that attempt. 
With looks of some complacence he resum'd 
His road, deriding much the blank amaze 
Of good Evander, still where he was left 
Fix'd motionless, and petrified with dread. 
So on they far'd. Discourse on other themes 
Ensuing seem'd t' obliterate the past; 
And tamer for so much fury shown, 
(As is the course of rash and fiery men,) 



ly6 THE TASK. 

The rude companion smil'd, as if transfer m'd— 
But 'twas a transient calm. A storm was near^ 
An unsuspected storm, flis liour was come. 
The impious challenger of Pow'r divine 
Was now to learn, that Heav'n, though slow to 

wrath, 
Is never with impunity deiied. 
His horse, as he had caught his master's mood, 
Snorting, and starting into sudden rage, 
Unbidden, and not now to be controll'd, 
Rush'd to the cliff, and, having reach'd it, stood, 
At once the shock unseated him : he flew 
Sheer o'er the craggy barrier; and immers'd 
Deep in the flood, found, when he sought it not, 
The death he had deserv'd, and died alone. 
So God wrought double justice ; made the fool 
The victim of his own tremendous choice. 
And taught a brute the way to safe revenge. 

I would not enter on my list of friends, 
(Though grac'd with polish'd manners and fine 

sense, 
Yet wanting sensibihty,) the man 
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. 
An inadvertent step may crush the snail 
That crawls at ev'ning in the public path ; 
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd. 
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live. 
The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight, 
And charg'd perhaps with venom, that intrudes, 
A visitor unwelcome, into scenes 
Sacred to neatness and repose, th' alcove, 
The chamber, or refectory, way die : 



. THE TASK. 197 

A necessary act incurs no blame. 

Not so when, held within their proper bounds, 

And guiltless of offence, they range the air, 

Or take their pastime in the spacious field : 

There they are privileg'd ; and he that hunts 

Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong, 

Disturbs the economy of Nature's realm, 

Who, when she form'd, design'd them an abode. 

The sum is this : If man's convenience, health, 

Or safety, interfere, his rights and claims 

Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. 

Else they are all — the meanest things that are — 

As free to live, and to enjoy that life. 

As God was free to form them at the first, 

Who in his sov'reign wisdom made them all. 

Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons 

To love it too. The spring time of our years 

Is soon dishonour'd and defil'd in most 

By budding ills, that ask a prudent hand 

To check them. But, alas ! none sooner shoots, 

If unrestrain'd, into luxuriant growth, 

Than cruelty, most dev'lish of them all. 

Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule 

And righteous limitation of its act. 

By which Heav'n moves in pard'ning guilty 

man ; 
And he that shows none, being ripe in years, 
And conscious of the outrage he commits, 
Shall seek it, and not find it, in his turn. 

Distinguish'd much by reason, and still more 
By our capacity of grace divine. 
From creatures, that exist but for our sake, 



198 THE TASK. 

Which having serv'd us, perish, we are held 
Accountable ; and God some future day 
Will reckon with us roundly for th' abuse 
Of what he deems no mean nor trivial trust. 
Superior as we are, they yet depend 
Not more on human help than we on theirs. 
Their strength, or speed, or vigilance, were 

giv'n 
In aid of our defects. In some are found 
Such teachable and apprehensive parts,. 
That man's attainments in his own concerns, 
Match' d with th' expertness of the brutes in 

theirs. 
Are ofttimes vanquish'd and thrown far behind. 
Some show that nice sagacity of smell. 
And read whh such discernment, in the port 
And figure of the man, his secret aim, 
That oft we owe our safety to a skill 
We could not teach, and must despair to learn. 
But learn we might, if not too proud to stoop 
To quadruped instructors many a good 
And useful quality, and virtue too, 
Rarely exemplified among ourselves. 
Attachment never to be wean'd, or chang'd 
By any change of fortune : proof ahke 
Against unkindness, absence and neglect ; 
Fidelity, that neither bribe nor threat 
Can move or warp ; and gratitude for small 
And trivial favours, lastirg as the life, 
\nd glist'ning even the dying eye. 
Man praises man. Desert in arts or arms 
Wins public honour ; and ten thousand sit 



THE TASK. 199 

Patiently present at a sacred song, 

Commemoration mad ; content to hear 

(O wonderful eftect of music's power 1) 

Messiah's eulogy for Handel's sake ! 

But less, methinks, than sacrilege might serve— 

(For, was it less, what heathen would have 

dar'd 
To strip Jove's statue of his oaken wreath, 
And hang it up in honour of a man ?) 
Much less might serve, when all that we design 
Is but to gratify an itching ear, 
And give the day to a musician's praise. 
Remember Handel ! Who, that was not born 
Deaf as the dead to harmony, forgets, 
Or can, the more than Homer of his age ? 
Yes — we remember him ; and while we praise 
A talent so divine, remember too 
That his most holy book from whom it came, 
Was never meant, was never us'd before, 
To bucki-am out the mem'ry of a man. 
But hush ! — the Muse perhaps is too severe 
And with a gravity beyond the size 
And measure of ih' offence, rebukes a deed 
Less impious than absurd, and owing more 
To want of judgment than to wrong design. 
So in the chapel of old Ely House, 
When wand' ring Charles, who meant to be the 

third, • 

Had fled from William, and the news was fresh, 
The simple clerk, but loyal, did announce. 
And eke did roar right merrily, two staves, 
Sung to the praise and glory of King George ! 



200 THE TASK. 

— Man praises man : and Garrick's mem'ry next, 
When time hath somewhat mellow'd it, and 

made 
The idol of our worship while he liv'd 
The God of our idolatry once more, 
Shall have its altar ; and the world shall go 
In pilgrimage to bow before his shrine. 
The theatre too small, shall suffocate 
Its squeez'd contents, and more than it admits 
Shall sigh at their exclusion, and return 
Ungratified ; for there some noble lord 
Shall stuff his shoulders with King Richard's 

bunch, 
Or wrap himself in Hamlet's inky cloak, 
And strut, and storm, and straddle, stamp, and 

stare, 
To show the world how Garrick did not act. 
For Garrick was a worshipper himself; 
He drew the liturgy, and fram'd the rites 
And solemn ceremonial of the day, 
And call'd the world to worship on the banks 
Of Avon, fam'd in song. Ah, pleasant proof 
That piety has still in human hearts 
Some place, a spark or two not yet extinct. 
The nmlberry tree was hung with blooming 

wreaths ; 
The mulberry tree stood centre of the dance ; 
The mulberry tree was hymn'd with dulcet airs; 
And from his touchwood trunk the mulberry tree 
Supplied such relics as devotion holds 
Still sacred, and preserves with pious care. 
So 'twas a hallow' d time : decorum reign' d, 



THE TASK. 201 

And mirth without offence. No few return'd, 
Doubtless, much edified, and all refresh'd. 
— Man praises man. The rabble all alive 
From tipphng benches, cellars, stalls, and styes, 
Swarm in the streets. The statesman of the day, 
A pompous and slow-moving pageant, comes. 
Some shout him, and some hang upon his car. 
To gaze in 's eyes, and bless him. Maidens 

wave 
Their kerchiefs, and old women weep for joy: 
While others, not so satisfied, unhorse 
The gilded equipage, and turning loose 
His steeds, usurp a place they well deserve. 
Why? what has charm' d them ? Hath he saved 

the state ? 
No. Doth he purpose its salvation ? No. 
Enchanting novelty, that moon at full. 
That finds out ev'ry crevice of the head 
That is not sound, and perfect, hath in theirs 
Wrought this disturbance. But the wane is near, 
And his own cattle must suffice him soon. 
Thus idly do we waste the breath of praise, 
And dedicate a tribute, in its use 
And just direction sacred, to a thing 
Doom'd to the dust, or lodg'd already there. 
Encomium in old time was poet's work ; 
But poets, having lavishly long since 
Exhausted all materials of the art, 
The task now falls into the public hand; 
And I contented with an humbler theme, 
Have pour'd my stream of panegyric down 
The vale of Nature, where it creeps and winds 



202. THE TASK. 

Among her lovely works with a secure 
And unambitious course, reflecting clear, 
If not the virtues, yet the worth of brutes. 
And I am recompensed, and deem the toils 
Of poetry not lost, if verse of mine 
May stand between an animal and wo, 
And teach one tyrant pity for his drudge. 

The groans of Nature in this nether world, 
Which heav'n has heard for ages, have an end. 
Foretold by prophets, and by poets sung. 
Whose fire was kindled at the prophets' lamp, 
The time of rest, the promis'd sabbath, comes 
Six thousand years of sorrow have well nigh 
FulfiU'd their tardy and disastrous course 
Over a sinful world ; and what remains 
Of this tempestuous state of human things 
Is merely as the working of a sea 
Before a calm that rocks itself to rest; 
For He, whose car the winds are, and the clouds 
The dust that waits upon his sultry march, 
When sin halh mov'd him, and his vvrath is hot, 
Shall visit earth in mercy ; shall descend 
Propitious in his chariot pav'd with love ; 
And what his storms have blasted and defac'd 
For man's revolt, shall with a smile repair. 

Sweet is the harp of prophecy ; loo sweet 
Not to be wrong'd by a mere mortal touch; 
Nor can the wonders it records be sung 
To meaner music, and not suffer loss. 
But when a poet, or when one like me, 
Happy to rove among poetic flow'rs, 
Though poor in skill to rear them, lights at last 



THE TASK. 203 

On some fair theme, some theme divinely fair, 
Such is the impulse and the spur he feels 
To give it praise proportioned to its worth, 
That not t' attempt it, arduous as he deems 
The labour, were a task more arduous still. 

O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true, 
Scenes of accomplish' d bliss! which who can see, 
Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
His soul refresh'd with foretaste of the joy ? 
Rivers of gladness water all the earth. 
And clothe all climes with beauty ; the reproach 
Of barrenness is past. The fruitful field 
Laughs with abundance ; and the land, once 

lean, 
Or fertile only in its own disgrace. 
Exults to see its thistly curse repeal'd. 
The various seasons woven into one. 
And that one season an eternal spring. 
The garden fears no blight, and needs no fence, 
For there is none to covet, all are full. 
The lion, and the libbard, and the bear. 
Graze with the fearless flocks : all bask at noon 
Together, or all gambol in the shade 
Of the same grove, and drink one common 

stream ; 
Antipathies are none. No foe to man 
Lurks in the serpent novi^ ; the mother sees. 
And smiles to see, her infant's playful hand 
Stretched forth to dally with the crested worm, 
To stroke his azure neck, or to receive 
The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue. 
All creatures worship man, and all mankin 



204 THE TASK. 

One Lord, one Father. Error has no place ; 
That creeping pestilence is driv'n away ; 
The breath of Heav'n has chas'd it. In the heart 
No passion touches a discordant string, 
But all is harmony and love. Disease 
Is not : the pure and uncontaminate blood 
Holds its due course, nor fears the frost of age. 
One song employs all nations ; and all cry, 
" Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us !' 
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks 
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy, 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain. 
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round. 
Behold the measure of the promise fiU'd ; 
See Salem built, the labour of a God ! 
Bright as a sun the sacred city shines ; 
All kingdoms and all princes of the earth 
Flock to that light ; the glory of all lands 
Flows into her ; unbounded is her joy. 
And endless her increase. Thy rams are there 
Nebaioth, and the flocks of Kedar there ;* 
The looms of Orraus, and the mines of Ind, 
And Saba's spicy groves pay tribute there. 
Praise is in all her gates ; upon her walls, 
And in her streets, and in her spacious courts, 
Is heard salvation. Eastern Java there 



* Nebaioth and Kedar, the sons of Tshmael, and pro 
genitors of the Arabs in the prophetic Scripture here 
alluded to, may be reasonably considered as representa- 
tives of the Gentiles at large. 



THE TASK. 20i 

Kneels with the native of the farthest west ; 
And ^Ethiopia spreads abroad the hand, 
And worships. Her report has travell'd forth 
Into all lands. From ev'ry chme they come 
To see thy beauty, and to share thy joy, 
O Sion ! an assembly such as Earth 
Saw never, such as Heav'n stoops down to see. 
Thus heav'nward all things tend. For all 
were once 
Perfect, and all must be at length restor'd. 
So God has greatly purpos'd ; who would else 
In his dishonour'd works himself endure 
Dishonour, and be wrong'd without redress. 
Haste, then, and wheel away a shatter'd world, 
Ye slow-revolving seasons ! we would see 
(A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet) 
A world, that does not dread and hate his laws, 
And suffer for its crime ; would learn how fair 
The creature is, that God pronounces good ; 
How pleasant in itself what pleases him. 
Here ev'ry drop of honey hides a sting : 
Worms wind themselves into our sweetest 

flow'rs 
And e'en the joy, that haply some poor heart 
Derives from Heav'n, pure as the fountain is, 
Is sullied in the stream, taking a taint 
From touch of human lips, at best impure. 
O for a world in principle as chaste 
As this is gross and selfish ! over which 
Custom and prejudice shall bear no sway. 
That govern all things here, should' ring aside. 
The meek and modest Truth, and forcing her 



206 THE TASK. 

To seek a refuge from the tongue of Strife 
In nooks obscure, far from the ways of men; 
Where Violence shall never lift the sword, 
Nor Cunning justify the proud man's wrong, 
Leaving the poor no remedy but tears ; 
Where he that fills an office, shall esteem 
Th' occasion it presents for doing good 
More than the perquisite : where Law shall speak 
Seldom, and never but as Wisdom prompts 
And Equity ; not jealous more to guard 
A worthless form than to decide aright: 
Where Fashion shall not sanctify abuse. 
Nor smooth Good-breeding (supplemental grace) 
With lean performance ape the work of Love ! 
Come, then, and added to thy many crowns, 
Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, 
Thou who alone art worthy ! It was thine 
By ancient covenant, ere Nature's birth ; 
And thou hast made it thine by purchase since ; 
And o'erpaid its value with thy blood. 
Thy saints proclaim thee king ; and in their 

hearts 
Thy title is engraven with a pen 
Dipp'd in the fountain of eternal love. 
Thy saints proclaim thee king ; and thy delay 
Gives courage to their foes, who, could they 

see 
The dawn of thy last advent, long desir'd, 
Would creep into the bowels of the hills, 
And flee for safety to the falling rocks. • 

The very spirit of the world is tir'd 
Of its own taunting question, ask'd so long, 



THE TASK. 207 

" Where is the promise of your Lord's ap- 
proach ?" 
The infidel has shot his bolts away, 
Till his exhausted quiver yielding none, 
He gleans the blunted shafts, that have recoil'd, 
And aims them at the shield of Truth again. 
The veil is rent, rent too by priestly hands, 
That hides divinity from mortal eyes ; 
And all the mysteries to faith propos'd. 
Insulted and traduc'd are cast aside, 
As useless, to the moles and to the bats. 
They now are deem'd the faithful and are prais'd, 
Who, constant only in rejecting Thee, 
Deny thy Godhead with a martyr's zeal, 
And quit their ofRce for their error's sake. 
Blind and in love with darkness ! yet e'en these 
Worthy, compar'd with sycophants, who kneel 
Thy name adoring, and then preach thee man ; 
So lares thy church. But how thy church may 

fare 
The world takes little thought. Who will may 

preach, 
And what they will. All pastors are alike 
To wand'rmg sheep, resolv'd to follow none. 
Two gods divide them all — Pleasure and Gain ; 
For these they live, they sacrifice to these, 
And in their service wage perpetual war 
With Conscience and with Thee. Lust in their 

hearts, 
And mischief in their hands, they roam the earth 
To prey upon each other ; stubborn, fierce. 
High-minded, foaming out their own disgrace. 



208 XH£ TASK. 

Thy prophets speak of such ; and noting down 
The features of the last degen'rate times, 
Exhibit every lineament of these. 
Come, then, and, added to thy many crowns, 
Receive yet one, as radiant as the rest, 
Due to thy last and most effectual work, 
Thy word fulfiU'd, the conquest of a world 1 
He is the happy man, whose life e'en now 
Shows somewhat of that happier life to come ; 
Who, doom'd to an obscure but tranquil state, 
Is pleas'd with it, and, were he free to choose, 
Would make his fate his choice ; whom peace, 

the fruit 
Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith, 
Prepare for happiness ; bespeak him one 
Content indeed to sojourn while he must 
Below the skies, but having there his home. 
The world o'erlooks him in her busy search 
Of objects more illustrious in her view; 
And occupied as earnestly as she, 
Though more sublimely, he o'erlooks the World, 
She scorns his pleasures, for she knows them not ; 
He seeks not hers, for he has prov'd them vain. 
He cannot skim the ground like summer birds 
Pursuing gilded flies; and such he deems 
Her honours, her emoluments, her joys. 
Therefore in contemplation is his bliss, 
Whose pow'r is such, that whom she lifts from 

earth 
She makes familiar with a Heav'n unseen, 
And shows him glories yet to be reveal'd. 
Not slothful he, though seeming unemployed, 



THE TASK. 209 

And censur'd oft as useless. Stillest streams 
Oft water fairest meadows, and the bird 
That flutters least is longest on the whig. 
Ask him, indeed, what trophies he has rais'd, 
Or what achievements of immortal fame 
He purposes, and he shall answer — None. 
His warfare is within. There, unfatigu'd, 
His fervent spirit labours. There he fights 
And there obtains fresh triumphs o'er himself, 
And never-with'ring wreaths, compar'd with 

which. 
The laurels that a Caesar reaps are weeds. 
Perhaps the self-approving, haughty world, 
That as she sweeps him with her whistling silks 
Scarce deigns to notice him, or if she see. 
Deems him a cypher in the works of God, 
Receives advantage from his noiseless hours. 
Of which she little dreams. Perhaps she owes 
Her sunshine and her rain, her blooming spring 
And plenteous harvest, to the pray'r he makes, 
When, Isaac like, the solitary saint 
Walks forth to meditate at eventide. 
And think on her who thinks not for herself. 
Forgive him, then, thou bustler in concerns 
Of little worth, an idler in the best. 
If, author of no mischief and some good, 
He seeks his proper happiness by means 
That may advance, but cannot hinder, thine. 
Nor, though he tread the secret path of life. 
Engage no notice, and enjoy much ease, 
Account him an encumbrance on the state. 
Receiving benefits, and rend' ring none. 

14 



210 THE TASK. 

His sphere, though humble, if that humble 

sphere 
Shines with his fair example ; and though small 
His influence, if that influence all be spent 
In soothing sorrow, and in quenching strife, 
In aiding helpless indigence in works 
From which at least a grateful few derive 
Some taste of comfort in a world of wo ; 
Then let the supercilious great confess 
He serves his country, recompenses well 
The state beneath the shadow of whose vine 
He sits secure, and in the scale of life 
Holds no ignoble, though a slighted, place. 
The man, whose virtues are more felt than 

seen. 
Must drop indeed the hope of public praise: 
But he may boast, what few that win it can, 
That if his country stand not by his skill, 
At least his follies have not wrought her fall. 
Polite Refinement offers him in vain 
Her golden tube, through which a sensual 

World_ 
Draws gross impurity, and likes it well, 
The neat conveyance, hiding all the offence. 
Not that he peevishly rejects a mode, 
Because that World adopts it. If it bear 
The stamp and clear impression of good sense, 
And be not costly more than of true worth 
He puts it on, and for decorum sake 
Can wear it e'en as gracefully as she. 
She judges of refinement by the eye ; 
He, by the test of conscience, and a heart 



THE TASK. 211 

Not soon deceiv'd; aware, that what is base 

No poHsh can make sterling ; and that vice, 

Though well pertum'd and elegantly dress'd. 

Like an unburied carcass trick'd with flow'rs, 

Is but a garnish'd nuisance, fitter far 

For cleanly riddance than for fair attire. 

So life glides smoothly and by stealth away, 

More golden than that age of fabled gold 

Renown'd in ancient song; not vex'd with care 

Or stain'd with guilt, beneficent, approv'd 

Of God and man, and peaceful in its end. 

So glide my life away ! and so at last 

My share of duties decently fulfiU'd, 

May some disease, not tardy to perform 

Its destin'd office, yet with gentle stroke, 

Dismiss me weary to a safe retreat, 

Beneath the turf that I have often trod. 

It shall not grieve me then, that once, when 

call'd 
To dress a Sofa with the ilow'rs of verse, 
I play'd awhile, obedient to the fair, 
With that light Task ; but soon, to please her 

more. 
Whom flowers alone I knew would little please, 
Let fall th' unfinish'd wreath, and rov'd for fruit ; 
Rov'd far, and gather'd much ; some harsh, 'tis 

true, 
Pick'd from the thorns and briars of reproof, 
But wholesome, well digested ; grateful some 
To palates that can taste immortal truth ; 
Insipid else, and sure to be despised. 
But all is in His hand whoso praise I seek. 



212 THE TASK. 

In vain the poet sings, and the World hears, 
If he regard not, though divine the theme. 
'Tis not in artful measures, in the chime 
And idle tinkUng of a minstrel's lyre, 
To charm His ear whose eye is on the heart. 
Whose frovi^n can disappoint the proudest strain, 
Whose approbation — prosper even mine. 



LIBHART 

Off 

mHEfSAl'ItllEIS 1?®IST§ 

Contains ttie -works of the most prominent Britisli 
Authors, with selections from American -writers. The 
volumes are all issued in the beautiful style of this, and 
each is illustrated by a steel engraving. The whole 
forms one of the most attractive series of gift books pub- 
lished, and includes -within its pages the chief of the 
Standard poetry of the English launguage. They are sold 
singly, or in seta, at a very low prioe. A parent or 
friend could not give a iuoro appropriate or intrinsically 
valuable present than a set of these Poets. 

The folio-wing is a list of the volumes : 

SIR "K^ALTEB SCOTt's BA-LLADS AlsTD OTHBB 

poems, edited by b. "w. gris-wold. 
Campbell's poems, edited by r. vt. qris- 

•WOLD. 
TOTJNq's NISHT THOUGHTS. 
Ii. H. SlaOUBNEY's POEMS, EDITED BY HERSELF. 
MABY HO^T^ITT's POEMS. 

lalla bookh. 
Montgomery's poems. 

H. KIBKE -white's POEMS. 



la.dt of the lake, by scott. 

southet's poems. 

colbridge's poems. 

"wordswobth's poems, edited by prof. reed. 

co"wper's poems. 

POLLOE's OOtTRSE OP TIME. 

BOOE OF PLEASURES, HOPE, IMAGINATION, AND 
MEMORY. 

Thomson's seasons, 
goldsmith's and gray's poems. 

EBENEZER ELLIOTT's POEMS, THE CORN LAIW 
RHYMER, EDITED BY R. "W. GRISWOLD. 

EOoebr's poems. 

mil-ton's PARADISE LOST. 

POETRY OF THE PASSIONS, BY R. "W. GRISWOLD. 

POETRY OF THE SENTIMENTS, BY R. "TO-. GRISWOLD. 

POETRY OF THE AFFECTIONS, BY R. "W. GRISWOLD. 

POETRY OF FLOWERS, BY R. "W. GRISWOLD. 
ELIZA cook's poems, EDITED BY B. W. GRISWOLD. 

HON. MBS. Norton's poems, by r. w. gbiswold. 

LIBRARY OF FEMALE POETS, bound in uniform styles, 
and put up in neat cases, containing the vrorks of Cook, 
Norton, Sigournet, and Howixx. No extra cliarge 
for the case. 



HUNT & SON, No. 44 North FourtlL Street, 

Philadelpliia, also publisti a number of valuable School 
Books, in tbe several departments of education, to whicti 
they call the attention of teachers and others, -who will 
be supplied with every thing in their line at the lowest 
rates. The following is a list of moat of their own 
pubhcationa : 

ths home book of health and medicine. 

veems's life of franklin, -with additions. 

■weems's life of william penn and maxims. 

Baxter's call to the unconverted. 

jay's FAJilILT PRAYERS. 

Doddridge's rise and progress. 

the american farrie's. 

qottld's system of stenography. 

hazen's panorama of trades and professions. 

stjper-royal oxford octavo bible. 

Milton's paradise lost. 

pollojc's coursf. of time. 

YOtTNG's NIGHT THOUGHTS. 
COWPER's TASK. 

Thomson's seasons. 

jack halyard, the sailor boy; ob, the vir- 
tuous family, by w. s. cabdell. 
happy family, by vr. s. cardell. 

Davenport's history of the united states, 

A NEW edition, REVISED AND IMPROVED. 
THE ANALYTICAL SPELLING-BOOK, W. S. CARDELIi. 



the tjniversaii class-book, 3t thomas hughs. 
Randolph's arithmetic ; or, the practical 

TEACHER. 
green's inductive GRAMMAR. 
HAZBn's SPELLER AND DEFINER ; OR, CLASS- 
BOOK NO. 2. 
THE BOOK OP commerce" BY SEA AND LAND. 

valpy's paley's moral and political philo- 
sophy, BY R. ^KT. GREEN. 

biography for schools ; or, good examples 

fok young persons, by eliza robbins. 
chase's elements OF abithmetic, parts 1 &:2. 

KEY TO DO. DO. 

DAVIS'S MODERN .PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR, 
GUMMERE's PROGRESSIVE SPELLING-BOOK. 

do. etymological school dictionary. 

Jacob's latin reader, parts 1 & 2. 

GOULD's VIRGIL. CORNELIUS NEPOS. 

DONTJ'H'.GA-Nr's OREETC LEXICON. 

leverett's ne"w latin tutor, 
ains-worth's latin dictionary. 

TACITUS. 

anthon's ains-worth's latin dictionary. 

GODMAN's AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY. 

INTBODTTnTTON TO THE ENGLISH READER. 

THE ENGLISH READER, BY LINDLEY MURRAY. 

STATE-BOOK OF PENNSYLVANIA, BY THOMAS H. 

BURBOWKS. 



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